Persona 4 Return of Midnight
by samuraistorm
Summary: The Midnight Channel murders have now come to an end. What seems to be a peaceful town will be revisited by the terrors of the Midnight Channel. The Investigation Team will be forced to get back into action to solve another case. Multiple pairings.
1. New Arrival

**I had recently finished playing Persona 4. I know I'm pretty behind, but that was because I didn't hear about the game until a few months ago and saw some good reviews on it.**

**Now, before I get to the story, let me lay out a few things I have planned for this story.**

**Pairings; I loved how you can choose who you get to be in a relationship with, but always saw Yukiko to be a good choice. For that reason, as well as what I saw throughout the game, this is the pairing I have for these characters:**

**Souji X Yukiko**

**Yosuke X Chie**

**Kanji X Naoto**

**OC X Rise**

**Teddy, well I like him(makes me laugh my ass off), but being...well...a bear, I didn't see what I could do with him. And the question of his age made it even more tough.**

**Anyways, on to the story.**

**(UPDATED AS OF MARCH-31-2011: Timeline has changed. This story takes place a few months after Persona 4, it begins in September, after the summer break.)**

**

* * *

**

**Friday - August 31 2012**

**Forecast: Sunny**

[Yasoinaba Train Station]

(Afternoon)

The train ran along the tracks smoothly, the scenery passed by in seconds while the grass fields and hills appeared as if they weren't moving at all. People on board the train were all busy with their own tasks; some were sleeping with their chairs leaning back, some were chatting with others in either deep conversations are about gossip, some were reading books, newspapers, or magazines, and there the few that did nothing. He was no exception, he had nothing to do on this train. All he could do to pass the time was to look out his window and watch everything pass by.

_I never thought things would come to be this way._

The trip seemed like it was taking hours when in fact it had only been less than three. This train was moving at a fast speed, and such speed made the whole ride much more quiet than it should be on an ordinary train.

_How did I end up coming here? I've never been to this place before._

After some more time passed by, the train came to a stop. "Arriving at Yasoinaba Station. All passengers please watch your step as you leave the train."

"That's us." The older woman said, who had been sitting next to him this whole trip.

_Welcome to Inaba, this is gonna be one fucking adventure._

He got up from his seat, grabbing the small bag that was resting behind his feet. He followed the woman out of the train and towards the location where all the larger luggage was being taken out.

He stood at an average height. Well, average for a teenager his age. His black hair went down to cover the back of his neck and a good portion of his eyes, leaving his mouth and his nose visible, and his dark brown eyes just slightly seen through the strands of hair. He wore a dark blue t-shirt that didn't have much of a design on it, and it was worn under a black trenchcoat that went low enough to cover his buttocks. "Grab your things, let's hope there's a taxi for us." He did as instructed, the two grabbed all their luggage and moved from the area and out of the station. They quickly made their way to where all the cars were parked and found a free taxi for them. They hurried to it and got inside.

_Let's just cut to the chase. My name's Kim Yon-Kwang, and this is not what I wanted my life to be like._

_

* * *

_

[Outside New Kim Residence]

When they got out of the taxi, Yon helped his mother take all the luggage out from the back seat and the trunk. The amount of luggage was big, so Yon had to take a while to haul each piece out of the taxi and onto the street. While the two were unloading, there were some people in the neighborhood that took notice of them. One elderly woman, a younger housewife, and businessman.

"Who are they?" One woman asked as they saw the teenage boy and his mother.

"I hear they're from Korea." Another woman said. "The mother's Japanese, but the father's Korean."

"How do you even know about this kind of stuff?" The businessman asked.

"Rumors spread fast around Inaba."

"Well, where's the father?"

"Who knows. Maybe he's not coming."

Yon simply grunted as he was able to hear the two women talking. He hauled the luggage until they finally arrived to the front door of the house they were staying in. "Is this it?"

"It was my sister's home. But now that she's living with her husband, she gave it to me." Yon's mother said. "Come on, let's unpack and then we can eat."

"About time, I'm starving." Yon carried two of the larger bags and brought them into the house before returning outside to carry another two bags. A few feet away from the two, a group of teenagers were walking down the street. One of them took notice of the house as well as the occupants with the large number of luggage.

"Oh, are they newcomers?" The raven-haired girl asked. The others stopped to see what she was referring to.

"I dunno." The short messy-haired boy answered. "But I guess it could be the case. That _is_ a lot of baggage."

"The kid looks about our age. You think he'll be at school with us?" The short haired girl asked.

"Guess its for us to find out." The one with the bleached hair said. "Come on, I'm starving. Where's that steak special you promised us Yosuke?"

"Oh right." Yosuke answered. "Let's go."

* * *

[Kim Residence]

(Evening)

It was now evening and everything was finally unpacked and sorted out. Yon slouched on the with a large sigh of relief. "About time we've finished with this." The living room was fairly decent, there was one three seat sofa situated on one wall with a large TV on the opposite end and a low table placed in between the two. The kitchen was on the other wide of the wall behind the TV and the dining table was to the right as well as a way to the back of the house, while the front doorway was on the other side. At the corner next to the sofa, there was a stairway that led to the second floor where the bedrooms were.

"Oh, Yon-Kwang, I spoke with the principal of Yasogami High School. You'll be starting school tomorrow."

"Huh? But mom." Yon whined. "Do I have to?"

"Of course you do. And it'll be a great way to make some new friends." Yon's mother said. "Now get some sleep, you have to wake up on time for orientation."

* * *

**Saturday - September 1 2012**

**Forecast: Sunny  
**

[Yasogami High School]

(Morning)

With the school day now beginning, students quickly entered the school building and got to their respective classes. While they were all walking around the building, they were all talking with each other, talking about the latest gossip, asking about how their holiday was, and what classes they are in.

"You looking forward to classes again?" Kanji asked as he sat down at a desk next to the fellow student.

"Well the summer was enjoyable, but school is a necessity Kanji-kun." The navy haired girl said. "Did you hear that our homeroom teacher has been replaced?"

"You serious? What happened?" Kanji asked.

"He was fired right after the last class before the break." Naoto answered. "Apparently, he was caught drinking on school grounds."

"And who's the replacement?"

"None other that Kashiwagi."

"What? NO!" Kanji grabbed his face and yelled in displeasure.

Naoto chuckled softly. "Well, I guess that's one less thing to look forward to."

While the students sat down at their seats and talked amongst themselves, a female adult walked into the room, followed by Yon. As required, he was wearing the school uniform, but only the pants, shoes, and shirt. It was not really noticeable, since he was wearing his black trenchcoat that seemed to obscure the school shirt underneath.

"Class, I'd like to take the time to welcome a new student to your homeroom." Kashiwagi said. "He's come all the way from South Korea, moving here with his mother. Please welcome Kim Yun Kan"

"It's Kim Yon-Kwang." Yon corrected with a tone of irritation. _That's the fifth person to make that mistake_. Can this get any worse?

Immediately, the students began to whisper among themselves about this.

"From Korea?"

"Why would he come here?"

"A Korean? That's insane."

It just got worse.

"His mother is Japanese and actually used to live right here in Inaba. His father is Korean and unfortunately remained back home. So what you have here is a mix of two nations, a crossblood.

"Ok, I'm sorry, but what's _that_ supposed to mean, lady?" Yon turned to face Kashiwagi. "Well, I'm sorry I ain't as pure blood as you people, but I don't really appreciate you making it such a big deal." His spat caught a few gasps from almost everyone in the classroom.

"Oh, that's not good." Kanji said.

"Well, looks like we have some fire coming from this one." Kashiwagi grinned a seductive smile. She then ran her index finger along Yon's cheek. "I like that in a man."

Yon backed away quickly and rubbed his cheek, as if her contact left a mark. "Ew. Did I really give up a good life to end up here with a pedophile as my teacher?"

The class suddenly fell silent, not a single student made a sound or a move, even Kashiwagi was too shocked to have anything to say. Yon took this moment to go to an empty desk and sat down, waiting for the class to begin.

* * *

(Lunchtime)

Class went by rather slowly for Yon, perhaps it was due to the fact that he had made a scene on his first day of school and he could hear almost everyone in the classroom talking about it while the teacher assumed they were all listening to her lecture. Heck, even Yon wasn't listening. That whore of teacher just made his skin crawl every time he took more than three seconds looking at her. How did he end up having to start his first day like this? Why was he even taking biology? What good would it do for him? When the bell rang signaling the start of lunch, Yon sighed with relief. He got up form his seat and made his way out of class, but the trip from his desk to the door wasn't all too pretty.

"Hey, you've got guts to talk back to a teacher like that."

"Yeah, especially with it being the first day."

"You've got some real balls, dude."

"Ok, back off!" Yon shouted. "I don't need any of your compliments. Just move." He pushed through the crowd, making his way out the door. When he got through the doors, he had the unfortunate event of knocking down Kanji.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Kanji said.

"Maybe you should move outta my way." Yon retorted.

"You giving me attitude kid?" Kanji moved up to Yon, getting close to his face.

"Kid? We're in the same class, don' treat me like I'm a child." Yon moved forward and shoved Kanji back. "Get outta my face." Kanji, as well as all the students around watched as Yon stormed down the hall to only god knows where. Kanji got back on his feet, clearly upset about what happened. "I don't need to get to know him to know I hate his guts." He looked back at Naoto, who was giving him an amused look. "What?"

"Well, I must say, your face does say it all." Naoto answered.

Kanji huffed at her comment. "Come on, we were supposed to Yosuke-senpai and the others on the roof."

* * *

"Hey, guys." Chie waved to Kanji and Naoto as they were walking towards them. Chie, Yosuke, and Yukiko were sitting at the roof of the building with their lunches out. "What kept you guys?"

"Something came up after class." Naoto said. She took off her hat and stroked her hair to get loosen it all out. "With the new student."

"You mean the one we saw last week?" Chie asked. "What happened."

"Made me look bad, that's what the fuck happened." Kanji said, gritting his teeth. "I don't care what the fuck you guys say, I ain't on board with being friends with that dickwad.

"Wow, when you swear this much, you really are pissed." Yosuke said.

"OF COURSE I'M PISSED!" Kanji yelled out. "Don't make me take it out on you."

"Whoa, easy." Yosuke said, panicking while he had his hands waving around in front of him. "Let's just stay calm."

"Come on, I'm sure he's not that bad." Chie said, "Maybe he was just nervous or something." Chie always had a way to try and see some good aspects of things. Seems that she's got the gift of making quick friends rather easily.

"He called Kashiwagi a pedophile." Kanji said. "You really thing a nervous person would say that?"

"Seriously?" Yosuke asked, completely taken back by this. "The new guy said that?"

"I'm just glad somebody did." Yukiko said. "She's always trying to flirt with the boys in the school."

"Why don't we talk to him after school?" Chie asked. "Maybe we might find him to be a nice guy."

"NO!" Kanji shouted. "I ain't doing it! Dude's a dick, and not worth our time!"

"Geez Kanji, no one asked you to join." Chie muttered. "If you don't want to get to know him then don't join us."

"I'm down for it." Yosuke said. "It'd be nice to have a new guy in our little circle. What with Rise still in the showbiz and Teddy popping in once in a while, our group is pretty small."

"I'd like to know him too." Yukiko said.

"Aw come on." Kanji groaned. "I know what this is gonna lead to."

"What? We're not asking you to be a part of it." Yosuke said.

"And that's just how it works." Kanji said. "You guys are gonna say that your fine with me not being a part of it, and its gonna get to the point where I'll feel guilty and end up joining anyways."

"Guess he saw through that didn't he?" Yosuke whispered to Chie.

"Alright, fine. I'll go too."

* * *

(After School)

Yon grunted and muttered some angry comments as he was walking down the hall and to his shoe locker. "Why do we even need shoe lockers? What's wrong with wearing your own shoes around the place?" He opened his shoe locker to take his outdoor shoes out and slip them on. "This place already feels like crap." He looked over to some of the other students who were watching him.

"Is he that Korean dude?"

"Yeah, I heard he badmouthed Kashiwagi."

"She said something about him being a crossblood."

Yon was starting to get really sick of these people talking about him like that. "You guys got something to say?" He shouted at them. "Yeah, I speak Japanese. That a surprise for you?" He watched as the students quietly scattered away, some scared about causing trouble with him, while others were simply gave that look that people make when they see strange things. "Assholes."

The group of friends were a few feet away from Yon when they saw what had happened.

"See?" Kanji asked. "What did I tell you, he's a dick."

"Maybe he just needs someone to open up to him first." Chie said. They all paused briefly. "So, uh...who wants to go first?"

Suddenly Yukiko's cellphone went off. She quickly took the phone out and check who it was. The name that was on the screen said, 'Seta, Souji.' The moment she saw the name, Yukiko smiled brightly. "Sorry, I have to take this." Yukiko went off on her own and answered the phone.

"Ok, how about you Yosuke?" Chie asked.

"What, this was your idea. You talk to him first." Yosuke said, getting defensive.

"Yeah, it was my idea. So I decide who should talk to him."

"Says who?"

"Says me!"

"You can't just make up rules like that!"

"Yes I can. It was my idea!"

"Hey guys!" Kanji shouted to get their attention. "The prick's gone." He pointed to the shoe lockers and they all saw that Yon had indeed left the school building already. "So much for making a new friend."

"Well, we can always try next time."

"Hey guys!" Yukiko came rushing back to the group. She had the biggest smile on her face, a smile that no one had ever seen in so long. "Guess what?"

"Wait, I know." Yosuke answered quickly. He paused for several seconds then sighed. "...and it just left me. What?"

"It was Souji-kun on the phone." Yukiko said. Now her cheeks were glowing a bright red. "He told me that with all the business his parents have, he's decided to finish school at Yasogami."

"So wait, does that mean..." Chie asked.

"He's coming back!" Yukiko couldn't hold in her joy. The second she said that, both herself and Chie jumped for joy. "Did he say when he'll be back, Yukiko?"

"Some time next week." Yukiko replied. "He'll call when he's here."

"Sweet, we should have something planned for him when he gets here then." Yosuke said. "How about we throw him a party?"

"Ooh, that's perfect." Chie said. "Since tomorrow's Sunday, let's go over some plans during then."

"Wait, Chie. We can't this weekend." Yukiko said. "Remember? Rise-chan is coming back tonight. We promised to have a sleepover with her."

"Oh right. A girl's night." Chie said. "Then we can always plan something out on Monday then."

"A sleepover?" Yosuke asked. "And wait, Rise-chan is coming back here? Why did you girls not tell us?"

"Must've slipped our mind." Chie said. "And don't even think about crashing our sleepover."

"Hey, we're not Teddy, you can trust us." Yosuke said. "And besides, I gotta work all day that day. I'll be too tired to show up and see you all in pajamas." The sudden idea of seeing all the girls in pajamas got the girls to blush. "Uhh..." Even Yosuke found himself blushing from the same thought. "Anyways, I think I should head to Junes now. Seeya guys." Yosuke rushed out of the school as fast as he could.

"He could've waited for us," Chie said. "We all _did_ say we were heading to Junes after school too."

"Let's go catch up to him." Naoto said. "I'm sure Teddy would also like to know that Souji-senpai will be returning."

* * *

[Junes]

The group gathered around in a lounge. The room had sofas going along two walls and a single sofa on the third wall. The center of the room had a coffee table with a large TV situated on the final empty wall.

"Where is Teddy?" Yukiko asked.

"He might show up later." Chie said. "Maybe we should get some snacks for him before he gets here." Chie got up from the sofa. "Who's coming with me?"

"I'll stay here in case Teddy shows up." Kanji said. "Don't want the little furball wandering the store."

"I'll stay and wait for Teddy too." Naoto said.

"I'll go help pick out some snacks." Yukiko said, getting up from the sofa.

Yosuke got up from the single sofa. "I'll tag along to make sure you get the cheap stuff. I still remember what you guys did for Kanji's birthday."

Chie and Yosuke once again began to argue while Yukiko walked behind the two as they all left the lounge. The three began to trek around the department store looking for some good snacks to feed on once Teddy returned from the TV world. As Chie and Yukiko picked out certain items, Yosuke either let them take it or put it back depending on the price.

"Why can't we take two?" Chie complained.

"Food ain't free." Yosuke said. "You're lucky I'm doing this as a friend. Besides, one's enough for us all."

"Are you trying to starve us?" Chie asked.

"If I was trying to starve you guys, I would keep you out of Junes." Yosuke argued.

The bickering went on and on until they got a fair decent number of snacks that would do well for the group. "Oh wait, we need to get something to drink." Yukiko said, looking at the snacks they picked out. "I'll go get it." Yukiko went to off on her own find something for them all. While she was searching through the shelves for something cheap, she saw someone else in the same aisle, it was Yon. "Hi."

Yon looked towards her. It was a surprise for someone to say anything to him, so this was something he didn't expect at all. "Um, hi."

"Do you need help with something?" Yukiko asked.

"Yes, actually. You know where the milk is?"

"Right over here." Yukiko walked a little past Yon and pointed to the carton of milk.

"Thanks." Yon said. "I'm kind of new here."

"Well, I'm Yukiko Amagi."

"I'm Yon-Kwang." Yon said. "But just call me Yon."

"I know, you're the new transfer student from Korea." Yukiko said. "Its nice to finally meet you."

"Um...thanks?" Yon was now getting really uncomfortable. Yukiko was the first person to be this friendly with him and not make such a big deal about the fact he's a half Korean-Japanese. He didn't really know what to say to her. "So you also go to Yasogami High School? I didn't see you in any of my classes."

"Oh, I'm a third year." Yukiko said. "But I have two friends in your class, Kanji-kun and Naoto-chan."

"Oh, well I'll probably meet them when I know who they are." Yon said. Little did he know that Kanji was the one who he flat out insulted after class earlier that day. "Listen I'm sorry, but I gotta head home quick. My mom just wanted me to get milk."

"Well, ok. Maybe I'll see you at school." Yukiko said.

"Yeah, bye." Yon grabbed a carton of milk and left the aisle, heading to the cashier.

Yukiko arrived shortly with two bottles of soda, one in each hand.

"What took you so long?" Yosuke asked. "We were gonna head back without you." The three walked back to the lounge.

"Oh. Well, I ran into the new student." Yukiko said.

"You did?" Chie asked. "How did it go?"

"He's actually a very nice person." Yukiko said. Getting to know Yon just as she did made her question Kanji's claim of him being a horrible person. But then again, she also witnessed him acting rather cruel after school, but this meeting with him contradicted what she saw from him at school. "Maybe we should all get to know him."

"Well, that can wait for when we go back to school." Yosuke said. He opened the door to the lounge. "For now let's..." When they all looked inside the lounge their eyes went as wide as dinner plates at what was going on. "What the hell are you two doing?"

What they saw was Kanji and Naoto laying on the couch. Kanji was on his back while Naoto was on top with her hat on the ground and her hair covering her face. The two stared at the three who had walked in on them and both were as red as tomatoes. "Oh crap, I knew this was a bad idea."

"You?" Naoto asked. She got off of Kanji and sat back down on the sofa. "This was your idea." She buttoned up the top two buttons of her shirt and reach down to the floor to grab her hat. "And I thought you said you locked the door."

"I _did_ lock the door." Kanji said.

"Yeah...and I have the keys." Yosuke said, jingling the keys in his right index finger.

"How long has this been going on?" Chie asked. "Were you two ever going to tell us?"

"Um...well..."

Suddenly from the TV, a large blue and red plushy-like bear jumped through the TV. "Aaaaaand here's Teddy!" Teddy struck a pose with one arm pointing up. "Am I late?" He looked around the lounge, waiting for somebody to say hi. "What's going on here?" Teddy then turned to Kanji and Naoto. "And why are Kanji and Naoto-chan sweaty?"

* * *

**Well glad I got that over with.**

**I feel pretty good about myself for making my very first Persona series fanfiction.**

**So yeah, Kim Yon-Kwang is my original character. I'm planning to have the story focus on every character and not just one specific character like how it was done in the game.  
**

**Please leave a review and tell me what you thought of this chapter.**


	2. Not The Best First Impression

**Ok, well here's the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it, I figured I might as well have you all see Yon and his attitude, and see what kind of guy he is.**

**Now, before you guys get excited about any other updates, let me say this. I don't plan on updating this too often. I'm currently focusing on my Naruto fanfic and then there's also a special story which needs to be started without this one going to far into the story.**

**UPDATED AS OF MARCH 31 2011**

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* * *

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[Kim Residence]

Yon opened the front door of his home and entered, closing the door and locking it behind him. "Mom, I'm home." He walked into the kitchen and put the milk in the fridge. "Mom?" Yon looked around the house for her. She wasn't in the kitchen and she was not in the living room. Yon went upstairs to check her room. Opening the door, he found his mother sleeping on her futon. Maybe she was too tired to wait for him, considering all the unpacking that was done, she deserved a good night's sleep. Yon quietly closed the door and went to his room to get to work on some of the homework he had. As he opened the door to his bedroom, he found all the boxes with his things in the corner, all labeled with what was inside. His mom was able to set up a futon for him until his actual bed would be prepared. His room already had some bits of furniture set up; a dresser with a television on top, a small work table in front of the dresser and TV, and two sofas set up along the wall opposite of the wall where the dresser was put. With only a small work table to use, Yon put his books on the table and proceeded to get to work.

* * *

[Junes]

"Time to fess up, you two." Chie said. While Kanji and Naoto stayed seated on the sofa, Chie stood in front of them with the others standing behind her. "How long has this been going on?" Kanji sat with his elbows resting on his knees and Naoto was sitting with her hands on her lap and her cap down to try and avoid eye contact. "Ignoring me won't make the question go away. Let's hear it."

While Naoto seemed rather calm about this, Kanji was hesitating; his hands were fidgety and he could stop looking all over the place. With the amount of staring he was getting from them, he was going to crack. "ALRIGHT! I give. It's been going on for a few months now."

"Months?" Yosuke asked. Everyone else was just as surprised as he was with their answer. "How the hell did you two pull that off?"

"It started at some point after Christmas. Figured it be obvious after the first few weeks or so." Kanji said.

(Flashback)

_The group was sitting at one table at Junes. Back then, this table was where they all sat when discussing the Midnight Channel murders._

_"Well, I must be off." Naoto said, getting up from her seat. "My grandfather wished for me to be home to help with with some housework."_

_"Uh, yeah. I gotta take off too." Kanji said. "Ma needs me to sew up some more dolls for the shop." Kanji got up from his seat and walked with Naoto as they left the group with their good-byes._

(End)

"And that's just one of the many times." Naoto said.

The others looked at them in disbelief. They've been together for some time now, and none of them made the connection that these two were seeing each other. Naoto, they could understand how she could keep it a secret, but Kanji was the kind of guy who would eventually let it slip.

"So, I suppose with it being so long, you guys must be happy." Chie said.

"Of course." Kanji said. "Why else would I still be with her?"

"Dude, could you at least sound like you're happy?" Yosuke asked.

Chie's phone then began to ring. She picked it up and answered it. "Hello? Oh Rise-chan, hi." Chie turned away from the group. "You're here? That's great. I'm with Yukiko and Naoto right now. We'll meet you soon. Alright, bye." She hung up her cellphone and put it back in her pocket. "Rise-chan's back, let's get going." She waited for all the girls to leave the lounge before she did. "See you boys later." Chie closed the door behind her.

Yosuke looked over the to other guys. "So...now what?"

"I want to hear more about Kanji and Naoto." Teddy said.

Kanji looked at Teddy sharply. "There's nothing to talk about!" Kanji grabbed the bottle of soda and chugged a large portion of it down. "How about a show, let's watch that instead."

* * *

[Kim Residence]

(Evening)

Yon continued with his schoolwork, already finished with half of it. The work was fairly easy. The difficulty he had was simply because he was still trying to adjust to reading and writing Japanese for schoolwork. Luckily, his mother took the time to teach him enough to have little trouble. Perhaps he should ask his mother for more lessons in Japanese later on. He looked at his room, he was too tired to unpack anything right now. Perhaps he could unpack everything tomorrow after school. For now, he could just open the box with his clothes and grab the clothes he'll be sleeping in. But for now, he should get back to his schoolwork.

After finishing up a history assignment, Yon put all his books away. It was getting late, so maybe Yon should get some sleep now. He was actually surprised that it took him this long to finish up his homework. Yon had a room with a bathroom inside, so he didn't have to worry about possibly waking up his mother trying to get to bathroom. Getting changed into his nightwear, Yon walked into his bathroom in his sleep pants and no shirt. He took a few minutes to brush his teeth and rinse it clean and then moved onto washing his face.

While he was drying up, he suddenly heard the sound of a faint feedback. "Huh?" Yon looked into his room, it was coming from there. He stepped into his room to see where it was coming from, it was most likely the TV, but he didn't even touch it. He looked at the TV screen, but there was nothing going on. Perhaps he was just imagining things. He put the towel back in the bathroom and set up his futon to sleep.

* * *

[Kujikawa Residence]

Rise had set her bedroom up with sleeping bags all on her floor. The girls had all prepared themselves by bringing a bag with extra clothing and pajamas. Already getting into the night, the girls had been sitting around in Rise's room talking with each other, many things that any teenage girl would talk about amongst others. The topic at hand then changed its focus to Yukiko and the news she had about Souji.

"So sempai's really coming back to stay?" Rise asked. "That's so cool."

"I know, I can't wait until he's back." Yukiko said. "But what about you, how have you been?"

"Oh, I totally forgot to tell you." Rise got up from her sleeping bag and went to her desk to grab something. She sat back down and showed the girls a DVD. "Ever heard of this?"

The other girls looked at the cover of the DVD. The title wasn't Japanese, and the picture had a man holding a gun in one hand and a knife in the other. "What is it?" Chie asked.

"Well, it's a movie made in China. It's called, 'The Trump Card'." Rise said, looked at the cover herself. "It's about a man who gets revenge on people who killed his brother and hunts them down while also protecting his brother's daughter. Guess who plays her." Rise then pointed at herself with a bright smile on her face.

"Oh my god!" Chie exclaimed. "How good is it? Does it have action?"

"It has fighting, romance, and even comedy." Rise answered. "Wanna watch it?"

"Sounds like fun." Naoto smiled.

"Perfect. Hang on." Rise got up again. "I'll go get us some snacks."

Rise walked down the stairs, practically gliding as she did. She went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. This was going to go on for a long night, so Rise grabbed a few cans of soda from the fridge. Getting enough for the girls to have and enjoy, Rise closed the fridge and put the last of the soda on the kitchen counter. She then went to the cupboard and pulled out three bags of chips. "This'll be enough." She reached her arm around the cans, scooping them together, but before she could actually lift them up, a strange sound of feedback began to be heard. "Huh?" Rise looked over to the TV when she saw it start to glow. Ignoring the drinks, Rise walked over to the TV to see what it was. "I remember this." It was the events of the Midnight Channel, she remembered that dull green glow from the TV, but this time, there was no one on. "Hmm?" She looked carefully into the TV and sure enough, it looked almost exactly like how the Midnight Channel portrayed its 'programs'. Strangely, there was nothing else on the screen, there was no person on the TV, no one at all.

"Rise-chan, you need help?" Chie called out from the bedroom.

"Umm..." Rise turned her attention away from the TV when she heard Chie's voice. When she looked back, she found the screen blank. "Uh, no it's ok. I'm coming."

* * *

**Monday - September 3 2012**

**Forecast: Cloudy  
**

[Yasogami High School]

(Lunchtime)

Rise left the classroom with Kanji and Naoto. "Boy, even after that long, Kashiwagi still holds a grudge."

"Eh, you know she wouldn't do anything worse." Kanji said.

"She wouldn't risk her career over a vendetta." Naoto said. She looked over down the hall and saw Yukiko and Chie. "Look, there they are. Let's go Kanji-kun." She reached for Kanji's hand and the two went to Yukiko and Chie with Rise following.

"Since when do we hold hands in public?" Kanji asked, half dragged by Naoto.

"Since everyone now knows." Naoto answered.

After meeting up with Yukiko and Chie, the group went up to the roof to find Yosuke waiting for them there. Being a nice warm day, quite a few students were out here enjoying their lunches as well. While eating their lunch, they talked amongst themselves; discussing their classes, what kind of assignments they already have, and more importantly, how Rise has been doing.

"You found anyone?" Chie asked. "Any cute boy catch your attention?"

"Hey, stop that." Rise nudged Chie. "And no, there's no guy. They're all cute, but none of them seem like my kind of guy." Rise looked up to the sky, apparently in thought. "I don't know, I'd prefer a guy who was more quiet than these airhead celebrity-type boys. A guy who doesn't try to date me for the fame, and definitely tough enough to protect me when I need him."

"Wow, you draw a pretty big picture." Chie said. "I don't think there's a guy out there who wouldn't date you for the publicity."

"Nice way to get her hopes up." Yosuke said.

Rise then noticed somebody who was out on the roof alone. He was sitting at the far end of roof, away from the bigger crowd and eating his lunch. "Hey, who's that? I've never seen him here before."

The others looked over to where Rise was looking at. "Who, him? That's Yon." Yukiko answered. "He's a transfer student from Korea."

"Korea, really?" Rise asked, surprised.

"Don't bother trying to get to know him." Kanji said with a tone of irritation. Clearly, he still wasn't over what happened the other day. "Guy's a dick." He then took a whole piece of dumpling from his lunchbox and stuffed it into his mouth. "Trsm...hsbdns."

They all looked at Kanji questioningly. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Yosuke asked.

Kanji gulped his food down and cleared his throat. "I said, 'trust me, he's bad news."

"You really need to give it a rest." Yosuke said, pointing at him with the chopsticks he was holding. "Yukiko said he was a nice guy, you probably caught him in a bad mood."

Kanji hit Yosuke's chopsticks away with his own. "You mind getting those out of my face?"

"Hey guys, look." Rise pointed to Yon.

While sitting alone with his lunch, a pigeon flew by his feet. Yon picked out a few pieces of rice from his lunch and brought it to the pigeon. The pigeon moved towards the rice and pecked at it little by little. Finished with that, Yon took some more rice and put it on his palm and brought it to the bird. The pigeon hopped on his hand and pecked at the rice off his palm. Yon smiled as he gently rubbed the pigeon's head. "You must really be hungry."

"Aww, look at that." Rise said.

"See? He's not a bad person." Yukiko said.

The others looked at the sight, amazed. It wasn't common for someone to do something like that, seeing it was as common as a solar eclipse; very rare, but an amazing sight. Rise couldn't help but stare at him curiously. Now why would Kanji say that he was a bad guy? "I'm gonna go talk to him." She placed her lunch box down next to her. Before anyone could say otherwise, Rise was already up and walking towards Yon. From what she could see, Yon didn't seem like a bad person at all; while he sitting alone and feeding the pigeons, he seemed to be smiling. "You sure know how to treat animals."

"Huh?" Yon looked up and was greeted by Rise's bright smile. "Oh, um...well, I used to have a lot of pigeons around my house back in Korea." He gently lifted his hand up and let the pigeon fly off.

Rise watched as the pigeon joined the others as it flew off into the sky. "What are you doing here by yourself? Why don't you sit with us?"

Yon looked back at Rise, surprised by her offer. "Um, sure." Yon got up from his seat and followed Rise to where the others were sitting. He immediately recognized Yukiko from last night at Junes. "Oh hi, Yukiko right?"

"Nice of you to join us Yon-kun." Yukiko smiled.

Yon's eyes then moved around to see the others. When his attention fell on Kanji, he quickly went defensive. "I remember you too."

Kanji impulsively got up and cracked his neck. "And I remember you." Kanji slowly walked up to Yon with his shoulders pulled back, his head up high, and his stride solid. He stood right in front of Yon and being taller than him, Kanji looked down to him. "If I'm not mistaken, I have a score to settle with you."

Everybody who was up here watching this had quickly backed away and formed a ring around the two. Yosuke convinced the others to back away as well, but Rise and Naoto tried to stop it. "Kanji-kun, don't do this." Rise tried to talk some sense into him.

As the two stared at each other with glaring eyes, the second Yon blinked, they both made their move. Kanji cocked his right shoulder back to punch Yon and he did just the same. The two hit each other at the chest, pushing them back and knocking them to the ground. Kanji punched himself back to his feet and Yon spun his way back up by swinging his legs around and pushing up from the force. The second the punches connected, cheering came screaming from almost everyone witnessing the fight. Kanji swung another punch at Yon, but he blocked it by hitting the fist aside. Yon connected with a hook to Kanji's left jaw.

Kanji rubbed his jaw. "That all you got?" Kanji swung a fist at Yon, hitting him at the left temple. Yon stumbled back, slightly dazed. Kanji didn't hesitate to take advantage of this, but Yon kept him back by swinging his fist around while rubbing his left temple. When he finally regained his vision, Yon got back to his feet. "You want more shithead?" Kanji raised his fists up.

Yon quickly shook his head, getting that last bit of daze out of his system. "Is that all _you _got?"

Kanji charged at Yon with a fist ready to swing, but Yon managed to block the punch away with a swing of his hands and side-stepping. Yon then kicked from behind, hitting his at the center of his back. Kanji stopped himself from falling over and turned around to face Yon. Yon threw a fist at Kanji, but he managed to duck in time. Kanji answered back hitting Yon in the abdomen and then an uppercut that sent him off his feet. Yon spun around and tripped Kanji and quickly got on top of him, locking his head under his right arm, locking his right arm under his left, and locking his right leg with both legs. Kanji locked Yon's head with his free arm and wrapped his free leg around Yon's waist.

"Give up yet?" Kanji asked, tightening his grip.

"Not even close." Yon answered. He rolled around to try and get Kanji's grip on his to loosen, but it didn't have much success. Kanji managed to end the rolling by being on top.

Kanji let go of his vice grip on Yon and sat up on him. He then thew a punch at Yon's face, landing a hard one and cutting his cheek. He landed several more punches at Yon, bruising him and making him bleed. Yon finally managed to get a hold of the fight; when Kanji threw another punch, Yon hit it upwards and forced the fist to hit the concrete floor. Kanji screamed in pain as he grabbed his broken wrist. Yon grabbed Kanji by his shirt and threw him over his head, forcing him to land hard on the ground. Yon then quickly got on top of Kanji and repaid the damage done to him, he grabbed Kanji by the head with his left hand and punched him with his right.

"Ok, that's enough." Two teachers broke the ring apart. One got Kanji to his feet and the other grabbed Yon. "Both of you, to the office now."

Yon threw his arm to release the teacher's grip on him, but the teacher didn't give in. "_Shibal geseki_(Fucking son of a bitch)!" Yon shouted as the teacher dragged both him and Kanji down from the roof and led them to the office, leaving everyone else still on the roof.

"What did he say?" Yosuke asked.

"I don't know." Yukiko said, looking back at Yosuke. "It sure wasn't Japanese. Maybe it was Korean."

* * *

**Whoo, finished at last.**

**I kinda like how the fight between Yon and Kanji turned out. It wasn't a martial arts style of fight, it was all street style.**

**For all you Souji lovers, I'll have him brought back in the next chapter. Maybe somewhere in the middle of the chapter.**

**Well anyways, please be sure to review on this chapter.  
**


	3. Return of the King

**Well, now let's get the next chapter underway**.

**I forgot to mention before about the situation/setting of my fanfic. If any of you have played the game and beat it(and I'm assuming you must have before reading this story), you'll know that there are three different endings to the game; the bad(the Team kills Namatame), the good(Adachi is caught and the killings finally stop), and the true ending(the Team fights Izanami). For my story, it takes place after the Team follows the 'Good Ending' plot. Reason is that I plan to have Izanami as the main antagonist.  
**

**Without further delay, let's get this story read.**

**UPDATED AS OF MARCH 31 2011**

**

* * *

**Yon and Kanji sat on chairs opposite from each other in the principal's office. Due the big scene they made and injury they put on each other, the principal found it best to call their homes and arrange for them to be there for the rest of the day. Kanji had a thick layer of wraps around his broken wrist, only until he was taken to the hospital. Considering how serious Kanji was injured, it was a miracle as to why Yon wasn't going to be expelled.

"Yon, you're mother will be here in a few minutes." The office secretary said, after hanging up the phone.

Yon groaned as he slouched in his seat. "I know my way home. I'll just leave now."

"I'm afraid that's not how protocol works here." The secretary answered. She turned her attention away from him and she continued to go back to her previous work.

"Come on! I've been in here for god knows how long. If you want me out of this school, then let me out!" Yon got up from his chair and began to shout at the secretary. He looked out the door of the office and saw several students stopped and stared at him. "What are you all looking at? Beat it!"

The students all scattered away. "God, he's worse than Kanji used to be."

"Grade A asshole."

"Crossblooded dick."

"That's it." Yon stormed out of the office, not caring that the office secretary tried to stop him. The crowd that was just dispersing was still around and Yon simply pushed his way through them all. He headed out the front doors of the school and left the gateway. Some few feet away from the school grounds, Yon met with his mother.

"What are you doing here? I thought I was picking you up from school." His mother said.

"That doesn't matter, let's go home." Yon walked past his mother, who shortly followed after him.

* * *

The students peered out their windows in the classroom as Yon walked out of the school grounds. Even after just two days at school, Yon's already gained more attention from the school population than a Japanese celebrity. While many of the students were watching as Yon disappeared as he walked further away, Yukiko and Chie were among the very few who were still at their desks.

"What is wrong with everyone?" Yukiko asked. "Why are they making such a big deal about Yon-kun?"

"Why wouldn't they?" Yosuke went back to his desk. "He's made his mark in the school; he insulted a teacher, got into and fight, and for all I know, swore out loud. I wouldn't be surprised if he went on a shooting rampage."

"Hey, shut up." Chie smacked him over the head with a book. "That's not funny."

"Ow!" Yosuke rubbed his head where the book hit him. "That was the spine..."

"I know this isn't like him." Yukiko said. "Yon-kun was so calm and even nice when I talked to him back at Junes." The fact that the Yon Yukiko talked to that night and the Yon who was now leaving school were so different, it was rather strange. It was simply unexplainable. "I'll be right back." Yukiko got up from her seat and walked out of the classroom.

Yosuke was now finished with rubbing his head from the book smack he received. With Yukiko temporarily gone, it was just Yosuke and Chie. "So, what's new with you these days?"

Feeling compelled to go along with it, Chie answered. "Nothing new, I guess. You?"

"Well, we got some new merchandise for the new season for the men and children's department." Yosuke said. "It's gonna be tough to sort through them all before the deadline."

"So? What are you trying to get at?" Chie asked, somewhat cautious as to why Yosuke mentioned something business related with that kind of detail.

"Well, I overheard my dad saying that we're a little short-handed and our deadline is by the end of the week." Yosuke leaned forward on his desk to move closer to Chie. "Which brings me to my next topic. You free after school?"

Now that Chie got wind of Yosuke's intentions, she was hesitant. "I don't know. I've seen how busy it can get at Junes."

"Oh come on. We can pay you for your help." Yosuke begged. "You won't even have to do much. All you need to do is fold clothing, box 'em, and mark 'em."

"Yeah, you see that? I don't think I can handle all that."

"You won't be doing it alone. I'll be helping. Well, I don't really have a choice." Yosuke said. "So, what do you say? Can you help out?"

Chie tilted her head up, looking to the ceiling while thinking this through. "I don't see why not. And I guess I can use the money."

* * *

[Kim Residence]

(After School)

Yon sat on his sofa, watching TV. He had it on a program that involved monsters and heroes that fight in armored suits.

_The man approached the human sized monster, with a strange belt wrapped around his waist and holding a device that matched the belt in design. "Fangire, return that life you took to God!" He then pressed the device to the palm of his other hand._

_**Rea-d-y**_

_"Henshin" He put the device into the belt and then it shot out a projection of a suit of armor which then encased him._

"Henshin?" Yon asked himself. "What's that supposed to mean?" While he continued to watch the program, his mother walked into the living room and turned the TV off. "Mom, I was watching that."

"Yon-Kwang, we need to talk about what happened today." His mother sat down on the other end of the sofa. "What's going on. I thought we agreed to try and adjust to this."

"Mom, I tried, but it isn't working." Yon said, groaning as he leaned back on the sofa. "Everybody at school looks at me like I'm weird. I'm just sick of it. I don't understand why we didn't just move to another city in Korea. Why did we have to come here?"

Yon's mother was now beginning to be upset with what Yon was saying. "Would you really have wanted that? Would you really have wanted to stay in Korea."

Yon got up from the sofa. "At least they have the decency to mind their own business!" Yon then stormed off to his room, slamming the door behind him. Trying to find a way to vent out his frustration, Yon kicked at the mattress of his bed several times until the blanket was now spread out on the bed in a very messy fashion. Calmed down a little bit, Yon sat down on his sofa, with his elbows resting on his knees and his face buried in his hands. He let out a deep sigh, unsure of what to do now. He missed out the second half of school and whatever schoolwork he had for those missed classes, he couldn't do. Yon then looked over to the dresser and stared at a small picture frame that was resting next to the TV. "I wish you were here, you always had a way to make me smile."

* * *

[Junes]

Agreeing to help Yosuke out at Junes, Chie followed him to the department store to offer a hand in boxing their merchandise. Chie and Yosuke were at the back storage room of Junes, sorting out the clothes before boxing them and having them ready for when they're needed. On one fairly large table, there were a pile of clothes; shirts, pants, hats, and some accessories.

"OK, all you need to do is fold the shirts and put them into those boxes." Yosuke pointed to the piled of shirts and the empty boxes.

"Ok, I get that part." Chie said. She grabbed one item from the pile and folded it. "But where do we put the boxes?"

"Don't worry about that. I'll take care of it, you just need to fold and box." Yosuke noticed that they were short a few boxes. "Keep folding, I'm gonna go grab some more boxes."

While Yosuke went further into the back, Chie continued to fold the shirts that were piled up. After several seconds, she suddenly heard a quick scream followed by the sound of crashing. "Yosuke-kun?" Chie ran to where the sound came from. "Yosuke-kun, you ok?" When she arrived to the scene, she found Yosuke underneath several boxes.

"Ok...these aren't empty..." Yosuke wheezed out. "Please help..."

* * *

[Kim Residence]

Yon walked downstairs of his home. Having spent some time alone in his room, Yon decided to come back down. He found his mother in the kitchen preparing dinner. "Hey, mom?"

She turned around when she heard her son call her. "What is it?"

"Look, I'm sorry about what I said before." Yon said. "I guess I'm still having trouble adjusting."

Yon's mother put the knife she was holding and walked up to him. "Maybe I was expecting too much from you. I won't push you to change, you just take all the time you need." She smiled at Yon and he reciprocated with his own. "Oh Yon-Kwang, do you think you can go to town for me?"

"Uh, sure. What for?" Yon asked.

"I was going to make your favorite tofu dinner, but I forgot to buy tofu today." She went to where her purse was and pulled some yen and gave it to him. "Can you go by some for me? You know which kind right?"

"Yeah, I know." Yon nodded. He walked to the door and put his shoes on before heading out.

* * *

[Junes]

After helping Yosuke out from the pile of boxes and putting them back, the two found some more empty boxes and went back to folding and packing the clothes. While Chie was pulled articles of clothing, she found something interesting. "Hey check it out." Chie wrapped a scarf around her neck. "What do you think?"

Yosuke smirked at this. He pulled out another scarf from the pile and wrapped it around himself. "Well, I see your scarf..." Yosuke then pulled out a white fedora from the pile. "...and raise you a hat. Your turn."

Smiling, Chie then took out a stylish black vest and put it on. She also put on some black leather gloves. "How about this?"

Laughing, Yosuke put on a navy blue jacket, and a pair of gloves. "Wait, wait." He took out a pair of sunglasses from one of the smaller boxes and wore it. "Presto." Chie laughed at the appearance of Yosuke. "Hold on, I can do better." Yosuke took another scarf and wrapped it around his neck, now having two.

"Haha, not bad. I'd say that's an improvement." Chie laughed.

"Oh, ha ha." Yosuke sarcastically laughed. He pulled a pair of boxers from the pile and placed it over Chie's head. "Now there's an improvement for you."

Laughing in amusement, Chie took the boxers off ans hit Yosuke with it. Yosuke grabbed the unfolded clothes and threw them at Chie, leading to the two of them to a fight with the clothes as their arsenal.

* * *

[Marukyu Tofu Shop]

Walking to the tofu shop wasn't all that far. He had plenty of time to get his tofu and be back home in time before his mother would need the tofu for dinner. Yon looked around the shop for the kind of tofu he was asked to buy.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

Yon turned around and to see the greeter, but was rather surprised when he recognized her. "You?"

"Oh..." Rise's smile faded into a look of surprise. "Hi. You need any help?"

"Uh, yeah." Yon answered. "I need two silken tofu, three momen, and two sweet tofu."

"Wow, that's a big order." Rise smiled. "One second then." Rise walked around the shop and picked out the different tofu that Yon listed out. Once she grabbed the last of them, she carried it all out to the counter. "Ok, anything else?"

"No, that's all." Yon answered.

"Alright, then that'll be 1500 yen." Rise took the money Yon handed over. "Have a..." When she looked up, Yon had already left the shop. "...good day..." Rise pouted, she was hoping to talk with Yon a bit since she couldn't due to the incident at school.

* * *

**Sunday - September 9 2012**

**Forecast: Sunny**

[Yasoinaba Station**]**

(Afternoon)**  
**

At the Yasoinaba train station, the group had arrived to wait for their old friend to arrive and they wanted to be there to greet him. They all stood just outside of the station, standing around a bench. While most of them were sitting inside the station, Yukiko and Chie were pacing around, impatiently waiting for the train to arrive

"It's not like the train to be late." Chie said. "Where can it be?"

"Geez, Sempai." Kanji said, slouching back. "It's not like the train was derailed. It'll be here."

Chie glared at Kanji as she put her hands on her hips. "Thanks for that image. That's gonna make me feel much better." The sarcasm was clearly evident in her voice. Just then, the faint sound of the train running along the rails was emerging. "I think it's here."

The group all stood up when the sound of the train was much louder and the sound of it stopping occurred.

"Here he comes." Yosuke said, with a smile.

Everyone waited as the train pulled up to a stop at the station. The doors opened and several passengers stepped out. Being Inaba, not many people really came out. As they watched them walk out, one of them caught their attention.

Souji stepped off the train with just a backpack slugged over his shoulder. He walked outside of the station, where he was greeted by them all.

"Souji-kun!" Yukiko ran up to him and jumped into his arms. Just before Yukiko jumped to him, Souji dropped his back and embraced her. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Yukiko-chan." Souji hugged her back. He then saw that everyone else was with her. "You guys didn't have to wait for me here."

"Well in all honesty, Rise-chan dragged us along." Yosuke shrugged his shoulders. "But this is still nice." Rise then smacked Yosuke at the back of the head. "OW! I said this was still nice!"

Souji chuckled, seeing them all together was something he truly did miss. "So tell me what's been going? Anything new that I should know about?"

* * *

Yon sat on a bench at the park, looking out over the town. Having been in his house all day, Yon decided to head outside instead of staying in his room. It's been almost an hour since he left the house and felt that maybe he should head back, and he was beginning to get hungry. Yon got up from the bench and decided to head back, maybe make up with his mother, get some food and get to work on his school assignments. As he turned to walk in his direction home, he bumped into Souji and knocked him to the ground. "Hey, watch it."

"What the hell was that?" Kanji asked. He shoved Yon back as he helped Souji onto his feet.

"Holy crap, you again?" Yon's encounters with Kanji had always been bad ones, he didn't see this being any different. "You're like fucking dog shit!"

"Me? I'm not the one who likes it shit." Kanji pushed Yon back.

Yon threw a sucker punch at Kanji and then threw his fists up. "Come on!"

Kanji knew he couldn't fight back with a broken wrist, so he was left with punching with only his left hand. Yon threw another punch, but Kanji pushed him back with his foot, kicking him square in the chest and pushing him down to the ground. Yon slammed his fists on the grass as he got back on his feet.

"What's the matter?" Kanji asked. "Backing out now?"

Yon growled as he threw a punch at Kanji's stomach and then delivered a hook to his temple. "YOU WANT ANOTHER BEATING!" Yon yelled at Kanji. He charged at Kanji, throwing his leg up to deliver a front kick. Kanji quickly stepped out of the way, but Yon didn't stop. He kept going forward and ended up kicking the bench that was behind Kanji, breaking the wood that made up the back rest of the bench. Kanji took the chance to strike at Yon from behind, but Yon quickly spun around and punched him before Kanji could. He then delivered the front kick that he previously missed, sending Kanji to the ground. and tumbling. "Now I see why people hate you." Kanji said as he forced himself back to his feet.

"What was that?" Yon asked, twitching from rage. "Even after I kick your ass, you still have the balls to say shit?"

"Not again." Yosuke groaned.

Souji watched this with completely no understanding of the situation. "Who is he?" Clearly something happened while he was away.

Yon charged at Kanji once more, but Rise quickly ran in his way, forcing him to stop. "Stop it. Stop fighting Yon-kun." Rise said. Yon glared at her, not happy at all that she's in his way. "Get out of my way." Yon watched as Naoto ran to Kanji's side, following by everyone else. Now he had no one to force his anger out on, with all of them protecting Kanji, he didn't want to get involved with them all at once. Yon screamed in rage, turning around and kicking the already broken bench some more.

"Dude, chill out." Yosuke said.

Yon glared at Yosuke. "Shut up!" Yon kicked away the broken splinters of wood from around him.

"What's gotten into you?" Chie asked. "We're doing what we can to be friends with you, but you keep acting like this. What's wrong?"

Yon managed to calm his rage down, but his anger didn't disappear. He was still upset, his eyebrows arched down towards the center, exaggerating his visible temper. "This town is just full of shit." He earned a few looks of shock from everyone, but he didn't care one bit.

"You wanna say that again?" Yosuke grabbed Yon by the collar of his shirt and pulled him in. "You have no right to take like that about our town."

Yon grabbed Yosuke's hand and pulled it off his shirt and pushed him back. "This town is full of shit." He repeated, answering to what Yosuke had said to him just now. "And that's why even all the people in this town are filled with shit." That didn't make things any better.

"How dare you say that!" Yukiko said, visibly upset by Yon's comment. She stepped out, attempting to slap Yon for what he said, but Chie grabbed her wrist before she could. "Take it easy Yukiko."

Yon clenched his fists tightly to the point that everyone could hear his knuckles crack from where they were standing. "I despise this town. I hate Inaba." Yon then walked away, leaving the group behind.

Souji was still utterly clueless about the whole thing. "Can someone tell me what that was about? Who was that?"

* * *

**Well, that was an ordeal.**

**I truly apologize for my delay in updates, but my brain farts are becoming more frequent these days. I'll try to update more often, so please bear with me.**

**Please leave a review, tell me what you think.**


	4. The Midnight Crisis Comeback

**I understand I'm making my Korean character a rather dickheaded person. But hey, Kanji was a dick too. Give it time and I'll have Yon put in a different light in a few more chapters. The TV world won't be visited for while longer, for now I'll just have foreshadowing of that event to come.**

**UPDATED AS OF MARCH 31 2011**

**

* * *

**

[Junes]

After Kanji's brief scuffle with Yon, everyone left the park and headed straight to Junes, sitting at their usual spot in the food court. It was there that they decided to explain to Souji about everything; Yon's first outburst in class towards Kashiwagi, getting on Kanji' bad side, and the fight that broke out between the two that one day that resulted in Kanji's broken wrist.

"Yon's been acting very strangely ever since he came here." Chie explained to Souji. "Apparently, he's got a big issue with being half-Korean and half-Japanese."

"But there's those times when he's actually...well...nice." Yukiko said. "Just like when I saw him that night in the Junes groceries. He was so calm when I talked to him." Of course, Yukiko was the only one there at that time, so she doesn't really have any other proof other than her own words. But to say that she was lying was too much of a stretch.

"I don't know, have you guys tried to reach out to him?" Souji asked.

"Yeah, and it ended with this." Kanji showed his cast.

"Kanji, stop it." Yosuke said. "To be honest, I think Rise-chan was the only one who actually tried. But that was before he got into that fight with Kanji."

While they continued to discuss these things, a small crowd of people gathered in front of a food stall that had the only television outside. The Team looked over to the crowd, wondering what it was about. They all got up from their seats and joined to people to see what it was. The television had a news report on that was taking place right at Inaba.

_"It seems as though the biker gang that had been terrorizing the quiet night of Inaba has returned." The news reporter said. "We're coming to you live as we speak to a resident of this town." The camera then panned over to somebody. "Excuse me, can we have a word?"_

_The person turned around to face the camera. "What do you want?"_

"Oh crap." Yosuke said. "That's Yon."

_"Perhaps you can tell us about this biker gang that's returned to Inaba." The reporter said. "Do you have anything to say about the situation?"_

_Yon glared at the camera. "I couldn't give a crap. Get that camera out of my face!" Yon grabbed for the camera, leaving only his palm covering the screen._

_"Hey, that's gonna come out of my paycheck!" The cameraman shouted._

_"Like I could care less." Yon snapped. The sudden sound of breaking occurred and then the screen went black._

"Wow, didn't see that coming." Yosuke commented._  
_

* * *

[Dojima Residence]

(Evening)

Souji arrived back at the familiar home of the Dojima residence. Upon entering the doors, he was greeted by Ryotaro and Nanako.

"Welcome back Souji." Ryotaro said with a bright smile.

"Hi big bro." Nanako cheerfully said.

"Sorry we couldn't be there to pick you up from the station." Ryotaro said. "But I was needed with a case at work."

"It's alright." Souji said. "I'm just glad to be back."

"You're probably tired from being out all night with your friends. You can go ahead and make yourself at home." Ryotaro said. "Your room is right it was before. Just unpack and get some sleep."

Souji unpacked his bag, making himself at home just like he did once before. The Dojima were kind enough t have his old room set up the way it used to be when he last stayed with them. Having gotten back home late, Souji simply wanted to get some sleep before having to go to school once again. While Souji was getting his sleepwear out of his bag, he heard a strange fuzzing. "What the..." He looked towards the TV, recognizing the sound. The TV was giving off a strange dim light, but it faded seconds later. _It can't be._ Had the Midnight Channel returned? Maybe he was just overdoing it with the nostalgia. Shrugging this off, Souji got changed and set up his futon to sleep.

* * *

**Monday - September 10 2012**

**Forecast: Cloudy. Rain later tonight  
**

[Yasogami High School]**  
**

(Lunchtime)

The next day, Souji went to school to get himself enrolled. Yukiko was kind enough to stick with him while he dealt with the long wait before he could finally attend class. However, he had already missed his morning classes because of this and it was now lunchtime. Souji met with the others at the school rooftop to enjoy lunch with them.

"Now this is more like it." Yosuke said. "All of us hanging out, just it used to be."

The rest of the Team were enjoying the company of each other, but Souji remained quiet, he couldn't help but think about what he saw last night.

"Sempai, you alright?" Kanji asked. "You're a lot more quiet than usual."

Souji broke this train of thought. "Oh, sorry. It's nothing." That was a lie. Why did he lie to them? They were with him through everything that took place in the Midnight Channel, this shouldn't be such a big deal. "Actually, something's bothering me."

This caught the attention of them all. "What is it?" Chie asked.

"Last night, I saw something." Souji told them. "My TV did that thing again. I thought I was seeing things, but considering what happened before, this wouldn't be too strange."

"But dude, it's all over now." Yosuke said. "Adachi's still in jail, the killing stopped. There's no reason for the Midnight Channel to act like that again."

"Actually..." Rise spoke. "I think I saw it too." They all looked Rise with a questioning look. "It was back at my sleepover. The TV in my living room did that thing too."

"Why didn't you say anything." Chie asked.

"I didn't think it was real at first. There was nobody on the TV." Rise answered.

"You can't be serious." Kanji said. "Does this mean our case isn't closed?"

"It appears not." Naoto said. She was just as disappointed as everyone else with this revelation. "Perhaps we should discuss all this after school."

"I agree." Souji said. "Let's meet up at Junes after classes."

* * *

[Junes]

(After School)

The rest of the school day went smoothly. Some people who remembered Souji from before greeted him, he focused in class, got caught up with what was happening in each class, and was able to understand the new material. After school, the Team decided that they should first meet at Junes and talk with Teddie. If someone was inside the Midnight Channel, Teddie would know, even just a small scent of one's presence was enough. The Team arrived at Junes and sat at the table that had always served as their headquarters.

Yosuke arrived last with Teddie following. The two sat down at the empty chairs that were left. "I had Teddie check out the Midnight Channel."

"There's nobody there at the moment." Teddie said.

"Well, if this is gonna be the same as before, the victim won't be in the Midnight Channel until their weird TV show appears." Chie said.

"This isn't enough to go by." Naoto noted. "Unless we know who the victim is, there's nothing we can do."

"The forecast said it's going to rain tonight." Yukiko said. She looked up to the sky; the sun was covered by a good amount of clouds, but there wasn't enough to darken the sky.

"Then let's stay up tonight and see what the Midnight Channel has for us to see." Chie said.

"Maybe we should wait until later tonight." Yukiko suggested. "If we do see someone in the TV, it'll be something to go by."

* * *

[Dojima Residence]

(Evening)

It was getting closer to midnight, closer to the Midnight Channel showing on the TV. Souji sat on the sofa, looking at the television screen while waiting for it to show something. Souji's uncle was still out at work and Nanako was fast asleep. His room remained quiet with the ticking of the clock and his breathing being the only audible sound that was present. As soon as the clock struck midnight, the screen emitted it's dim green light that signaled the airing of the Midnight Channel. Souji got up from the sofa and approached the screen to get a closer view of what was on the screen.

The image on the screen showed a person, just like it always had. The person had the distinct figure of a male teenager with fairly long hair. However, that sort of image was fairly common among the teenage men in Inaba, so it didn't narrow the list down by that much. Before seeing anything else that could have helped narrow down who this person could be, the image faded.

"No, no, no no no." Souji said in disbelief. It seemed that the Midnight Channel crisis was still going on. But why now? Why couldn't this happen back when they got Adachi for the murders? While he tried to get these questions out of his mind, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He picked up the phone and saw that it was Yosuke calling. "Yosuke?"

"Hey, did you see it?" Yosuke asked.

"Yeah, I did." Souji answered. "I can't believe this is happening again."

"I know, maybe we should talk about this later." Souji said. "Tell everyone to meet at Junes after school."

"Got it, I'll see you then."

Souji flipped his phone shut and placed it on his work desk. Seeing as there was nothing he could do now, he figured sleeping was next on his current agenda, although it was going to be a rough night with this new information on his mind.

* * *

**Tuesday - September 11 2012**

**Forecast: Cloudy**

[Junes]**  
**

(After School)

"You guys saw it last too right?" Yosuke asked.

"Yeah, I saw it." Chie answered.

The rain had stopped at some point before school had ended, but the tents that were set up over all the tables, chairs, benches during the rain were still there. The outdoor vendors were still closed due to the rain from earlier, giving the Team 100% privacy with their discussion.

"I can't believe that after all this time we have to go through this again." Yukiko commented. "I thought it was all over. Who could it be this time?"

"Well, we know for a fact that it was a guy." Kanji said. "That should narrow it down."

"Down to what? It still gets us nowhere." Yosuke said.

Thinking back to when she saw it, Rise had a possible idea. "I think I know who it was."

"You do?" Naoto asked. "Well, who?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Rise asked them. "Before someone appears on the Midnight Channel, they're always seen on the news. That was Yon-kun."

"Rise, as much as I don't want to take the risk, I don't think there's enough proof that it's Yon." Souji said. "We need more proof, we need the see if it really is him on the TV."

"I'm gonna have to agree." Naoto said. "The rain is going to come back again tonight, perhaps the Midnight Channel will be more clear this time."

"But what if it Yon-kun?" Rise asked. "What if we miss our chance in preventing a kidnapping because we weren't sure about this?"

"Rise-chan, it's too early for the kidnapper to do anything." Yosuke said. "I'm sure we can spare one night to confirm your assumption."

Rise crossed her arms in disappointment. She was so sure that she was right about the next victim, but the Team had doubts. She looked at the outdoor clock of Junes. "Sorry, but I have to get to work." Rise grabbed her schoolbag and got up from her chair. "Yosuke, I hope you're right about this."

* * *

[North Shopping District]

Rise exited the department store and headed down to the tofu shop. During her walk down the street, she couldn't help but worry. What if the next victim really was Yon? What if this kidnapper doesn't follow the same MO? What if Yon has already been kidnapped? As she arrived on the block where her tofu shop was, she noticed Yon walk up the street on the other side. "Yon-kun?"

As Yon continued to walk, he stopped right at the entrance of the shrine. Examining the rich condition of the shrine, Yon entered it. He made his way up the stone stairs and walked along the Sandou (road approaching the shrine). Yon looked around the shrine, surprised that a small quiet town could have a shrine with so many structures made in gold. Deciding that he had spent enough time here, he decided to go off and head home. As he turned to head back out the entrance, he saw Rise standing there.

The moment Rise was noticed, she suddenly hunched her shoulders, as if it would make her invisible. "Um...hi."

Yon sighed in irritation. "You? Look I'm sorry, but I prefer to avoid dealing with that bleached asshole." Yon proceeded to walk along, ignoring Rise.

"Yon-kun wait." Rise said. "I want to ask you something."

Yon stopped walking and turned to face her. "Ok, ask away."

"Has anything strange happened to you recently?"

"Strange? You want 'strange'?" Yon asked with a very serious tone of anger. "My parents get a divorce, I end up leaving my hometown in Seoul and end up in this trash ridden town, I already have a reputation that makes the Emperor of Japan look like a beggar, and now I have someone asking me if anything strange happened to me." Clearly, what he said was enough to upset Rise. In a huff, Rise turned to walk away. Sighing, Yon ran his fingers through his hair. "Wait." He chased after Rise to try and explain. He caught up with her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Wait, I'm sorry. Look, I'm not blaming you for anything. Things...are just not easy for me here."

Rise turned around, Yon had calmed down. Perhaps this was the best time to try and possibly ease her way into asking Yon questions regarding their case. "I guess I was a little too direct with my question. Maybe if you knew why I was asking you might understand."

Yon sat down on the nearby bench. "Alright." Yon patted the empty space of the bench, letting Rise know she could sit down. "I'm all ears."

Rise sat down beside him, running her hands on her backside to press her skirt to her legs. "You see, two years ago, there used to be a serial killer in Inaba. He would kidnap people and then kill them. But the one thing he always did was to give a sign as to who he was planning to kidnap. The killer's gone, but some people think he's back."

"And you're worried that I'm the target?" Yon asked.

Rise nodded. She didn't technically give Yon the whole back story, but telling him about the Midnight Channel, Shadows, Personae, and a television world seemed too unbelievable for him. He would've probably thought she was crazy.

"Well, to tell you the truth, nothing that strange has happened." Yon said. Yon got up from the bench and stretches his arms. "Look, I gotta head back home. My mom doesn't really like it when I miss dinner."

"Oh, alright." Rise said. She got up from the bench as well. "I need to be getting to work." Through all this conversation, Rise then realized she never introduced herself. "Oh wait, I never got to tell you my name." Rise bowed a bit to Yon. "Hi, my name is Rise Kujikawa. Pleased to meet you."

Yon gave a small hint of a smile and bowed back to Rise. "I'm Kim Yon-Kwang. Nice to meet you too."

"Maybe I can talk with you at school tomorrow?" Rise asked. "How about we meet before class starts?"

"Yeah." Yon said. His smile slowly grew a little more visible. "I'd like that." Yon walked away in one direction as Rise walked another. The smile on Yon's face grew larger, he couldn't really understand how something like this made him feel so happy. For once, Yon felt like this was going to be good. He put his hands in his pockets as he walked back home.

* * *

**Wednesday - September 12 2012**

**Forecast: Sunny**

[Kim Residence]**  
**

(Morning)

Yon got out of his bedroom all dressed up for school and carrying his backpack. Today, he wore his school jacket over a black v-neck t-shirt with a pair of crimson tinted aviator goggles hanging around his neck. Passing by his mother, Yon kissed her on the cheek. "Morning mom."

Yon's mom put her bowl and chopstick down on the table. "You seem happy today." Seeing how happy her son was so suddenly, she couldn't help but smile herself.

"I guess I am." Yon said. He grabbed his lunch from the edge of the table. "I'll see you when I come home." He made his way out the door, opening it as he slipped into his shoes. "Bye mom, love you."

* * *

[Yasogami High School]

Rise stood outside the school gates, looking far off to see if any of the approaching students was Yon. Yon said that he'd be arriving, so she knew he would be on his way.

"Rise, what are you doing out here?" Kanji asked as he approached her, slugging his backpack over one shoulder.

"Yon-kun said he'd meet me here before class." Rise said with a cheery smile. "I don't want to miss him." She leaned against the stone pillar as she continued the wait for Yon to arrive.

* * *

[Outside Kim Residence]

[As Yon left the front door of his house, he looked at the time on his phone. "Shit." Yon only had a few minutes before he'd be late for school. As long as he could be there on time, he could let Rise know that he didn't forget. Yon ran down the street, making a sharp turn at the intersection. He darted past people walking by, cutting across traffic, and jumping over anything in his path. As he left the more busy district of the town, he was back to the more quiet route that would eventually take him to the front gates of school. When he saw the school just at the end of the street, Yon smiled as he kept his pace. But just then, something suddenly smacked him on the back of the head. Yon fell to the ground, dazed from the assault. All he could see was the blurring image of the sidewalk right by his sight and a pair of feet standing in front of him. That was when he blacked out.

* * *

**Dun dun dun-dun DUUNNN!**

**And now it begins. Yon has been kidnapped and now the action takes place.**

**Please be sure to leave a review.  
**


	5. New Premiere Broadcasting

**Welcome back folks, let's get things rolling without delay.**

**UPDATED AS OF MARCH 31 2011****  
**

**

* * *

**

[Yasogami High School]

Class went on as usual, but Rise was upset about Yon not showing up. She at first assumed that Yon either forgot, or simply lied about wanting to meet her, but when Yon wasn't even in class, it had her thinking otherwise. His absence from school was made known throughout the entire school, as he was the newest student and he made history with his violence with Kanji. The bell finally rang to signal the end of class, which was a relief; Kashiwagi's teaching was more about herself and that small subliminal hint of her dislike to Rise. Rise didn't make it that much of a secret that she wanted to leave the classroom as quickly as possible. As she arrived at the shoe lockers, she grabbed her shoes and slipped them on.

"She's been getting annoying, hasn't she?"

"Huh?" Rise noticed a student next to her.

"Sorry, I was in the class as well. My name's Kenzaki." He was wearing the school's uniform all buttoned up, almost neat. He had short raven black hair that spiked up to show his forehead and he wore square framed glasses.

"Oh. Um, hi." Rise said. This was an awkward moment for her as she had absolutely no idea who this person was, or why he was speaking to her. "Sorry, but I'm sort of in a rush, I'll see you later." As soon as she left, she quickly made her way to Junes.

* * *

[Junes]

(After School)

With Rise's rush to Junes, the others took some time to arrive. They all gathered like they always did; eating lunch, talking, the typical teenager stuff. Some other students form school met at Junes to hang out with each other.

"Hey, I heard that the Korean guy wasn't at school today." One student said to a fellow student.

"You think they suspended him for what he did?" Another asked.

"No way, if that were true, Kanji would be gone too."

"Hey! You saying shit about me?" Kanji yelled at them when he heard his name in their gossiping. The group of students quickly scurried away from Kanji.

"Smooth." Yosuke said. "A regular Casanova. You kiss Naoto with those lips?"

"You wanna keep yours?"

"Guys!" Chie smacked Yosuke and Kanji on the back of the head.

"Ow!" Yosuke and Kanji shouted. They rubbed the back of their heads to sooth the pain.

"So is it true? Yon-kun really isn't here today?" Yukiko asked.

"Apparently, yes." Naoto answered.

"I'm telling you, Yon-kun is the target. He must be in the TV now." Rise said.

"We don't know anything yet." Chie said. "What if he's just sick?"

"He's not!" Rise raised her voice. She got up from her chair and slammed her hands on the table. "He was just fine when I talked to him yesterday."

"Wait, you saw him yesterday?" Yosuke asked.

"You talked to him?" Yukiko asked. "Did you tell him about all this? The Midnight Channel and all?"

"No, I only mentioned the killings. He didn't ask for details." Rise answered. "But I know he's the next target. If he's missing, then he must've been taken already."

"Rise-chan, I'm sorry, but we don't know anything." Souji said. Rise calmed down and sat back down. "If Yon really has been pushed into the TV world, we can only find out by watching the Midnight Channel. It's supposed to rain soon, so we can all watch it tonight."

Rise crossed her arms, still visible upset. "Fine."

"Ok, well this was fun and all, but we gotta get going." Kanji got up from his chair with Naoto getting up as well.

"What's going on here?" Chie asked, watching with the others as Kanji and Naoto were heading out. "Where are you two off to?"

"Kanji's getting his cast off today." Naoto answered. "We're going to get dinner afterward."

"Like a celebration?" Yukiko asked.

"And we weren't invited?" Yosuke asked with a mocking pout.

"It's also our eight month anniversary." Naoto said.

"Aw, how cute. Kanji has a soft side." Yosuke laughed.

"The first thing I'm gonna do when I get my cast off is you drop you to the ground." Kanji threatened.

"Kanji, we should get going. You said that you had an appointment." Naoto said. "We don't want to be late. Good-bye."

"Seeya." Kanji waved.

"You gonna pay for the dinner or dine and dash?" Yosuke asked as Kanji was still withing earshot.

"Shut it!" Kanji shouted before disappearing.

"I guess maybe the rest of us should get going too." Chie said. "Unless someone has any new leads, we should take a break."

"I agree." Yukiko said, acknowledging Chie's suggestion.

* * *

[Dojima Residence]

(Evening)

Souji finished with his schoolwork for the night. He closed his books and set them all to the side of his desk. It was almost midnight, the Midnight Channel should be on soon. Souji stood in front of the TV, waiting for it to appear. He was able to see someone in the TV the past night, if Yon really is the target and he _has_ been sent into the TV, he knew what to expect.

The TV began to glow its odd green tone. A blurry image of a male person appeared. Souji sighed in relief, they still had time; it was just a coincidence. Souji turned around to set up his futon, relieved that they didn't have anything to worry about as of now.

"Is this thing on?" The voice from the TV asked. Souji's attention quickly went back to the TV.

The image on the TV suddenly went static, cutting in and out of image of the person. "Come on, work already."

The image suddenly became clear. A person was clearly visible on the TV screen; Yon. "There we go. Welcome, one and all!" Yon said with a strong tone. "It's such an honor for you to join me today as we begin 'Battle of Blood'." The image slowly moved up and down on Yon's body, showing his attire. He was dressed in an attire that seemed to be a cross of a kimono and a hanbok(it's a Korean version of the kimono) with a katana and straight sword strapped to his left hip. "I'm your host, Kim Yon-Kwang. Tonight, I'll be showing you an epic battle between the greatest fighters of Japan and Korea. Watch as I give you an exclusive report on the bloodshed and chaos that will come to pass as these two swordsmen fight to the death." Behind him, the doors to palace opened up. "Oh, looks like Round 1 is about to commence. If you're ready, then follow me and we can begin!" Yon turned around and charged into the palace. Several seconds after Yon disappeared into the palace, the screen faded back to a blank screen.

"Oh no..." Souji stared at the blank screen. His cellphone then rang; he picked it up and answered. "Hello?"

"Souji, did you see that?" Yukiko asked. "Rise-chan was right, that was Yon-kun."

"I know." Souji said. "Well, if Yon-kun was on the Midnight Channel, then that means he might get killed in there."

"We should talk more about this with everyone after school." Yukiko said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright, good night." Souji hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. He went over to his sofa and sat down, giving off a large sigh. It's been so long since he first witnessed the events that led to him entering the TV and rescuing those who later became his friends and allies. After a whole year since they solved these murders, the mystery of the Midnight Channel returned. But who could it be? Who could be the one that sent Yon into the TV? What reason would this person have? All these questions weren't going to be answered on its own, Souji decided it was best to sleep now and talk things over with the team. He got changed into his sleepwear and set up the futon to sleep.

Rise wasn't going to be happy with him.

* * *

**Thursday - September 13 2012**

**Forecast: Sunny**

[Junes]**  
**

(After School)

The team had gathered at their headquarters. Souji and Yosuke had arrived first with Chie and Yukiko arriving shortly afterward, followed by Kanji, Naoto, and Rise. The only one who wasn't present was Teddie, who was waiting for them in the TV world. Things have become heated when Rise confronted Souji about Yon.

"I told you." Rise said, pointing at Souji. "I knew it was Yon-kun, but you didn't believe me."

"Rise-chan, I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't going to get Yon-kun back!" Rise shouted.

"Rise-chan calm down." Yukiko said, separating Rise from Souji. "Getting angry like this isn't going to get Yon-kun back either." Rise sat down the chair and the Team got back to the topic at hand.

"Ok, so what do we have so far?" Yosuke asked, looking over to the team.

"Well, we know for sure that Yon-kun was on the Midnight Channel." Chie said. "I still can't believe that this is all starting back up. I thought we took care of everything!" Chie shook her head like crazy, trying to get all the frustration out of her system.

"You think Adachi's back at it?" Yukiko asked.

"No, my uncle told me that Adachi is still in jail." Souji said. "He went to visit him last night." That gave Adachi an alibi. While it was good to know that Adachi was true to his word of going straight, it was bad for the team as they had no lead, no suspect."

"What about Namatame?" Chie asked. "He's able to go into the TV as well."

"But why would he do it?" Kanji asked. "You remember what happened with him."

"That's right. Namatame had been committing the crime with no knowledge about it actually being a crime." Naoto said. Now that ruled out Namatame. This was getting worse for the team as it was getting them nowhere."

"Wait." When Souji spoke, everyone turned to him. "What about Mitsuo?"

"Mitsuo? The guy who killed King Moron?" Kanji asked. "How? The prick's in jail."

The team all sighed in defeat; Mitsuo was their final suspect that they had, now it was gone down the drain.

"Perhaps we can worry about finding who the criminal is later." Naoto said. "For now, I believe we should rescue Yon-kun from the TV first. If things work out like it did with the rest of us, he may end up joining our team."

"I agree." Yosuke got up from his chair. "And after we rescue him, maybe he can give us some info on who threw him in."

"Then let's go to the TV." Chie said.

"No, not yet." Souji spoke. "There's no guarantee that we'll find him right off the bat. We should ask around first this time. Once we get some good info, let's get Rise-chan and Teddie to track him down."

The area then began to fill up with customers, an unusual amount than normal.

"What's going on here?" Chie asked.

"Oh, damn it." Yosuke palmed his face. "I totally forgot, we just added a new udon stand to the Junes food court. Today's the grand opening that we're offering udon half off."

More people began to fill the food court, many of then starting to crowd around where the Team was. Talking any more about the case hear was a big risk.

"We should get out of here." Souji suggested.

* * *

[North Shopping District]

The team had left Junes and were now at the shopping district. With Souji the Leader, he was about to explain what they were all to do. "Ok for now, ask around and see what people know about Yon. While some people do that, the rest of us should go talk to Yon's mother."

"Ok, so what's the plan?" Kanji asked.

"We can ask around town, maybe someone has something on the dude." Yosuke offered.

"That's a plan." Chie said. "I could ask some people from school."

"Asking around town is gonna be tough." Souji said. He then turned to the others. "Kanji, can you and Naoto also ask around?"

"Will do, sempai." Kanji nodded.

"I'm sorry, but I have to get back to the inn." Yukiko said. "When we know where Yon-kun is, I'll be there to help."

"Then sempai and I will go to Yon's place and talk to his mom." Rise said.

"Ok, then let's get moving." Souji said. The team nodded and agreement and broke apart, spreading around the shopping district to ask anyone they run into. While everyone went all over the place to, Souji and Rise made their way to where Yon lived to talk to his mother. When they arrived at the house, Rise rang the doorbell.

"Rise, are you still upset?" Souji asked.

"Of course I am." Rise said. "This was our chance to save someone before they ended up in the TV and we totally ignored it. IF everyone had just listened to me, Yon would still be here."

"Rise-chan, I know I messed up. I'm sorry about that. But you can't dwell on this forever, we _will_ get him back." Souji said reassuringly. "You know we've never failed, why should we start now?"

The door opened and Yon's mother was on the other side. "Oh, hello. What can I do for you?"

* * *

Yosuke and Chie met with each other at the front of the bookstore.

"Did you find anything?" Chie asked.

"Nothing." Yosuke answered. "All I got from them was about how rude Yon was to their kids. What about you?"

"Well, I got something from the man who watches the shrine." Chie said. "I'm gonna tell Souji what I've got."

"Well, we still have a few minutes before we need to meet with the team." Yosuke said. Looking at his watch, it read 4:43 pm. They all agreed to meet back at Junes at 5, giving him and Chie a little over 15 minutes to spare. "How about we take a break?"

"You sure?" Chie asked. "I think we should keep asking around."

"Hey, if we can't find anything else, I'm sure the others will get something." Yosuke grinned. "Besides, after finding one thing useful, you at least deserve this break."

Chie looked at her watch to check the time herself. "Well, I guess a break wouldn't hurt. Wanna get a snack?"

"Well, that depends." Yosuke crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you gonna make me pay?"

Chie put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Can you get any more cheap?" She turned and proceeded to walk away, leaving Yosuke to be a little upset.

"Me? You're the one who won't pay." Yosuke ran up to Chie, catching up with her.

* * *

[Kim Residence]

Yon's mother had allowed Souji and Rise to come in. The three sat on the sofa as they discussed about Yon.

"I don't know where he could have gone." Yon's mother said. "Perhaps he's still having trouble fitting in. After all, he has Japanese and Korean blood in him. It's not easy being a half." She lowered her head. Rise could see that she was very upset about Yon's disappearance. "But he seemed so happy the last time I saw him."

"Has he always been like this?" Souji asked.

"No. He was never like before." Yon's mother said. "He used to be so happy, he never let his mixed blood interfere with his life. But that all changed when..."

"When what?" Rise asked.

"His sister died."

"Sister?"

"I suppose he blames himself for what happened to her." Yon's mother said. "Maybe he acts this way because he can't move on."

Souji got up from the sofa and Rise followed. "I think we should let her have her privacy."

* * *

[TV World]

With all their information gathered, the Team entered the TV world to meet with Teddie. It's been several hours since they split up to gather their information, leading to the day to be near evening.

"Did you find anything useful?" Teddie asked.

"Let's find out." Souji said. He then turned to the others. "What did you guys find out?"

"Well, other than the fact that Yon is pretty much an ass, I've got nothing." Kanji said. "It's kinda surprising as to how many people don't like him."

"Easy for you to say." Yosuke muttered.

"What was that?" Kanji asked. "My arm is fresh from the cast, and I'm willing to whack you with it!"

"Jeez, chill man." Yosuke backed away. "Let's stay focused. Anyways, I spoke to some guy who hangs around the shrine. Yon was there the day before he disappeared. He seemed to have an interest the ancient Japan thing."

"You mean feudal Japan?" Chie asked.

"Whatever."

"Well, Rise-chan and I found out from Yon's mom that he had a sister." Souji said. "She said that before she died, Yon was a very happy kid. But ever since then, Yon changed."

"He started to make it a big deal that he was a mixed blood." Rise said. "I guess he's been upset because he's not pure."

"Why do we keep referring to him like a horse?" Yukiko asked. "Mixed, Pure blood? He's human."

"I can see why he's so angry when people talk about him being half and half." Yosuke said.

"You think this is enough to go on?" Souji asked Rise.

"It's worth a shot." Rise summoned her Persona. This feeling was one that she hasn't felt in a while so she needed several seconds to readjust to it. Within the seconds, her Persona, Kanzeon appeared. "It's been so long, I miss this." With Kanzeon's power, Rise searched all through the TV world for Yon. "I think I found him. It's not clear with all this fog, but I'm sure he's in that direction." Rise pointed to the right.

"I'll lead the way!" Teddie declared. "If we're close enough I can sniff him out easily."

* * *

**Now it's time to bring on the action. They've returned to the TV world and are now on their way to rescue Yon.**

**Join us next time on Persona: Return of Midnight!  
**


	6. Return to Midnight

**Alright team, welcome back to the TV world. Enjoy what I've got in store for you all. Sit back and enjoy the chapter as it unfolds as the ****Investigation Team ****begin their mission.**

**Before I begin, a reader left me a review regarding an inconsistency. With this story taking place a year after the end of Persona 4, that means the older characters (Souji, Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko) would be out of high school. So I figured I should fix that.**

**So as of this day this story has been altered to take place a few months after Persona 4 ended. So for those of you who have been reading since the start, the first chapter takes place in September.**

**Also, some content in the previous chapters have been altered the flow correctly with the new change in time.**

**I'd like to thank princesskisara for correcting me.  
**

* * *

The fog cleared up as they arrived at their location. When it all cleared up, they found themselves outside the gates of a large Japanese palace.

"This is it." Teddie said. "His scent is strongest up to here."

Souji looked around the palace. "Well, it does look like the palace that Yon went into."

"This place is kinda creepy." Kanji looked around the area. There were many gravestones randomly placed around the outside of the palace, some were slanted, others were broken. While there were many of them, the name on the stone was the same. "This doesn't look Japanese."

Yukiko got on her knees and looked at the name on the gravestone, running her fingers along the engraved characters. "This is definitely Korean."

"How can you tell?" Naoto asked.

"There was this one time a Korean businessman booked several nights at the inn. Something about promoting a Korean product for Junes to sell. I remember he signed his room out with the exact same character as the top one."

"You think it's Yon's name on these gravestones?" Yosuke asked.

"Who knows?" Souji asked. "Let's focus on the task at hand, we gotta get in there and rescue Yon." Souji led the way towards the entrance, which was a large double door that stood at several meters high; clearly no way to climb over it. Souji grabbed the large iron ring that was on one of the doors and pulled at it. It budged slightly, but his strength alone wasn't enough. "Kanji, help me open this."

Kanji went towards the door and pulled on it with Souji. With both their strengths combined, the door slowly began to open, very slowly. When the two managed to open the door wide enough, they entered the palace.

"Rise, give us a layout of the place." Souji said.

Rise put her hands together and summoned Kanzeon. Her Persona appeared behind her and placed the device in her hands on Rise, letting her see what she couldn't see before. "This place has eight floors; Shadows are on the first three, the fourth floor looks like one large room, and...I see Yon-kun. He's at the top, we need to hurry!"

"Whoa, hold up." Yosuke said. "We don't even have our gear."

"No worries, I've got them right here." Teddie spun around and with a wave of his paws, each of their weapons cluttered on the ground. Souji's katana, Yosuke's twin kunai, Chie's metal greaves, Yukiko's fan, Kanji's shield, Teddie's claw, and Naoto's gun. "They seemed too special to just throw away, so I kept them."

"Oh, sweet baby." Yosuke picked up his kunai and twirled them along his fingers. "I missed you."

Chie strapped the greaves to her legs and hit them to get a good feel for it. "Now I'm ready to kick some butt."

"Alright, now we're ready to get moving." Souji said as he took his katana. "Let's go." Souji led the group through the palace to get to the top. Immediately as they progressed through the first level, they encountered a group of Shadow.

"This feels pretty nostalgic, doesn't it?" Yosuke asked.

"You really wanna talk about that now?" Chie asked. "We've got Shadows to deal with."

These Shadows seemed different than the kinds they've faced before; they were large rhinoceros beetles, but their color was split directly down the middle from their horn to the back end. Some of them had their left side colored a dark blue and their right half a crimson red, while the rest were green and silver.

"Rise? A little info?" Kanji asked. He smacked his shield at one of them, but it didn't seem to do that much damage.

"I'm working on it." Rise said.

"Work on it faster!" Chie shouted. She kicked at one of the Beetle's horns to bat it away, but that was all it did; bat away.

"You're not helping me here!" Rise shouted back. She scanned through all the information she was receiving from the head device and finally got what she needed. "Got it."

"Break it down for us." Souji called out.

"These things are called Split Beetles, mainly because of their split colors." Rise began. She pointed to one of the crimson and navy colored ones. "That one there is colored like back because of the elements it can control. The color it has represents the two elements; the crimson represents fire and the second represents ice."

One of the crimson and navy Split Beetle then unleashed a giant blast of fire on the Team. Yukiko quickly acted on this by summoning her Persona. "Amaterasu!" Striking her Persona card with her fan, her Persona appeared in its glowing golden body. Amaterasu stood before the incoming blast of fire and it instantly disappeared upon making contact with the Persona's body.

"The other one is different. The green represents the wind element and the silver..." Rise was cut short when the Split Beetle released a bolt of lightning on the Team, though none were hit by it. "...is lightning."

"This doesn't help us. Each Beetle's two elements are each other's weakness. What good can we do if their completely invulnerable?" Yukiko asked.

"Just focus on physical attacks, it's the best we can do." Souji said. He slashed at one of the Beetles repeatedly. "Damn. Persona!" Souji summoned Izanagi-no-Okami appeared in its gallant form; a pure white body and armed with a polearm with a golden ring. "Take care of this!" Izanagi-no-Okami slashed in a wide horizontal motion which struck several of the Split Beetles. Another few more slashes managed to successfully eliminate the Beetles.

"Smash 'em, Rokuten Maoh!" Kanji summoned his Persona. The gigantic Persona in flame decals appeared, swinging its giant blade and slashing at the Split Beetles, damaging several more of them. Another swing of its blade destroyed those Beetles.

The Beetles fought back, unleashing elemental attacks on the Team. Some attacks missed, but some managed to hit, but they managed to hold their own. Continuously having their Persona attacking the Split Beetles managed to get rid of the Shadows, but it took a vast amount of time.

"Wow, we've really gotten rusty." Yosuke said, sweating heavily and breathing deeply.

"No time for a break." Souji said. "We've still got to move."

Once these Shadows were dealt with, the Team continued trekking through the palace. Each floor they went up, they encountered more Shadows; all different, but similar to the Split Beetles. Pesces, Ravens, Idols, Turrets, they were all split down the middle to differentiate their two elements. As they travelled up to the next level, the number of Shadows they encountered became more and more frequent, to the point where they would encounter them at almost every corner and room. Despite the increasing volume of hostility in this palace, the Team didn't back down.

After making it through the first three floors, they finally arrived at the halfway point. The fourth floor brought them to a doorway that didn't seem to the match the exterior of the palace or the interior from the previous floors. Elements of Japanese presence didn't exist anymore, although a different sort of oriental style was now present.

"Does anybody else notice the difference here?" Chie asked.

"It's almost as if we're not in the same place anymore." Yosuke pointed out.

"We're still in the same place." Rise said. "That strong Shadow presence is on the other side. It's gonna be a tough one."

They opened the doors and entered the large room. As they entered, they saw that the room was filled with dozens of samurai, Mushas. Among the Mushas, there was one very large Shadow; this Shadow appeared similar to the Mushas, but much larger and more armored that them.

"Rise?" Yosuke asked.

"It's called a Palace Guard." Rise responded, analyzing the giant Shadow. "And like the others, those are Split Mushas. They all have the element of fire and ice."

"You are not welcome here." The Palace Guard's voice boomed. The Shadow then drew out a sword and pointed it towards the Team. "Leave now or suffer your demise."

"Fat chance." Yosuke threw up his two kunai.

"Very well, then face your end." The Palace Guard directed the Split Musha Shadows to charge at the Team.

"Persona!" Kanji summoned Rokuten-Maoh, who swung its swing to knock back many of the Mushas.

While the Persona did the job in trying to eliminate the Mushas while the Team themselves went after any that slipped past through the Persona. These Mushas were incredibly difficult to fight against as their advantage was the same as every Shadow they faced in this palace; two opposing elements making it impossible to use either against them. While the other Shadows they have dealt with were lower class types, the Mushas were more advanced in skill and armoring.

"Guys, we need to deal with that Palace Guard first." Souji instructed. "I'm going after it."

"I'm coming with you." Chie said.

"I'll go too." Naoto spoke, reloading her pistol.

"Wait for me Sensei." Teddy growled. "I'll help you out."

The four of them ran towards the Palace Guard while hitting away any of the Split Mushas that got in their way, leaving Yosuke, Yukiko, Kanji, and Rise behind. The Palace Guard unsheathed it's large katana; the blade looked dull or as if made from stone, but it still appeared sharp and deadly to the touch. The Palace Guard swung it's sword in a vertical downward slash. Souji and Naoto jumped to the right to avoid the blade while Teddy rolled to the left. Chie side-stepped to the left and quickly ran along the sword, making her way up. When she was within striking distance, she threw a roundhouse kick and landed back on the ground.

Naoto ran around the Palace Guard while shooting at it with her pistol. When the Palace Guard's attention was on Naoto, Souji and Teddie ran in and attacked the Shadow's legs with their weapons. The Palace Guard seemed unaffected by these attacks, almost as if the Team was nothing more than a mosquito than an actual threat.

"It's quite tenacious." Naoto said, reloading her pistol.

Back with the others, the Split Mushas surrounded them while they continued to push them back.

"Magarudyne!" Yosuke slashed at his Persona card, summoning Jiraiya.

"Maragigyne" Yukiko struck her Persona card, summoning Amaterasu.

The two took physical form as they charged their respective elements. Simultaneously, they unleashed a combination of wind and fire, creating a powerful hurricane of flame. The attack did no good in eliminating the Split Mushas, but it was enough to pushed them far back.

"Damn, they're not going down." Yosuke growled.

Chie, watch it!" Souji grabbed Chie by her arm and pulled her back as the Palace Guard's sword came crushing down. Souji's assistance managed to keep Chie out of the way of the blade.

Teddie came from behind and slashed at the Shadow's heels with his claws in rapid succession. The slashes forced the Palace Guard onto it's knees and hands. Souji quickly ran directly underneath the Palace Guard's head and raised his katana up. "Try some of this!" Souji stabbed through the Palace Guard's helmet, directly to the left eye. The Palace Guard reared it's head back in pain.

"Way to go Sensei!" Teddie shouted.

Souji needed this to end fast; neither of them could keep this up for long. It was only a matter of time before they would get overpowered by these Shadows. While the Palace Guard remained occupied with one eye out of commission, Souji quickly developed a solution. "Naoto, your Persona has an Almighty attack, right?"

"Yes."Naoto answered.

"Let's summon out Persona and use it."

"Got it." Naoto aimed her gun forward as her Persona card appeared. "Persona!"

Souji's card appeared before him and Souji slashed at it. "Izanagi-no-Okami!"

Izanagi-no-Okami and Yamato Takeru took form, armed with their respective weapons.

"Megadolaon!" Souji and Naoto shouted.

Izanagi-no-Okami and Yamato Takeru charged up their power and unleashed the ultimate Almighty attack, creating a large explosion. The Split Mushas that were nearest to them were quickly eliminated from the blast while the distant ones took some more time before being destroyed. The Palace Guard slowly broke apart as the power behind the Almighty attack consumed it. When the explosion settled, nothing was left in the room, except for the Team. The Shadows were all eliminated, leaving the Team to continue through the palace.

"It's about time." Naoto said with a sigh of relief.

"Let's get moving." Rise said. "We're only halfway there."

"I can't move." Chie said, slumping over from exhaustion. "That was just too much."

Yosuke dropped to the floor. "I'm beat."

Kanji rested on his shield while panting heavily. "Kanji...needs...rest..."

"We can't stop now." Rise said. "Yon-kun could be in danger."

"Rise-chan, I'm sure he'll be fine." Chie said. "As long as Inaba doesn't get covered in fog, Yon-kun will be safe until we rescue him."

"But..."

"We'll be no good if we're all too weak to fight." Souji said. "Rise, we have to get out and rest up."

"Fine." Rise gave in. "Then we have to come back tomorrow."

"Rise-chan's right about that." Yukiko said. "The forecast said it was going to rain non-stop until Saturday. It's supposed to fog that evening."

"What? We never had that short of a time to rescue everyone else." Yosuke said, concerned by the lack of time they're given. "We'll really need to step up our game."

"I agree, but we're done for today." Souji said. He looked to Teddie. "You know what to do."

"Right." Teddie conjured up his power and transported the Team out of the Palace Arena with the Traesto ability.

In a bright flash of light, the Team disappeared from the palace, reappearing right outside the palace gates. With the difficult part of the task now complete with a simple skill, the Team left the area to head back to the main location of the Midnight Channel. They entered through the TV, leaving the TV world and returning to their own.

* * *

[Dojima Residence]

(Evening)

Souji arrived home roughly around 8pm. Nanako was still awake, sitting in the living room watching TV like she always does.

"Welcome home, Big Bro." Souji smiled when Nanako greeted him. It was like he never left Inaba at all, it felt the same. Those missing months felt like it never happened. "Dad's busy at work, so he won't be home tonight. There's some dinner in the fridge for you if you're hungry."

"Thanks Nanako." Souji said. "But I'm actually quite tired. I'm going to head to bed."

"Oh, ok." Nanako seemed a bit down, not having seen Souji all day. "Good night."

"Good night." Souji entered his room and prepared his futon before getting changed. Never had Souji had to put such a rush in rescuing the others. He always had such a vast amount of time to deal with the situation before the fog rolled in, but with the fog arriving in two nights, they had to hurry. Prepared for the night, Souji got into his blanket and tried to sleep off the stress.

_I'm not gonna be getting any sleep tonight._

* * *

**Friday - September 14 2012**

**Forecast: Raining**

[TV World]

(After School)

Classes finally ended for the day and the Team immediately rushed to Junes to get into the TV world. Teddy had been waiting for them and when they all arrived, they went back to the Palace and picked up where they left off. Upon entering the fourth floor, they ran across the room to the doorway that would lead them to the next level. The fought their way through the Shadows, not backing down until they made it to the very end.

Floor by floor, they continued in their quest to reach the top and rescue one more captured resident of Inaba. Knowing what they had to face, the Team was prepared for the Shadows that they encountered. Time passed and the Team finally reached the final floor and the large doors that led to the room where Yon was being kept.

"He's here." Rise said. "I also sense a strong Shadow."

"Oh...I sense it too. It's a lot more powerful than the Palace Guard." Teddie slightly trembled.

"This is it guys, no going back." Yosuke said. "Let's go."

The Team pushed through the doors and entered the large chamber. When they entered, they saw that the room was a Feudal Japanese-styled throne room. At one end of the room was an elevated platform with a seat that was there as the throne. All along the floor were mats where the currently absent subjects would kneel before the daimyo. Yon was on his knees directly before his Shadow. Shadow Yon took notice of the Team's presence and glared at them with his yellow eyes and gave a sickly grin.

* * *

**Alright, that's another chapter done at last.**

**I'll do my best to get the next chapter up as soon as possible, please be patient. I really do hope that the updates I made with the previous chapters helped make things more understandable.**

**You guys know the drill, leave me a review.  
**


	7. Confront the Shadow

**Welcome back one and all. Now that the Team has encountered Shadow Yon, it's time to get to the battle.**

**Strap yourselves in and prepare for the ride.**

* * *

"Yon-kun!"

The team had finally arrived to the final floor of the palace. When they arrived, they saw that Yon was before his Shadow. Shadow Yon's sickly grin made him look almost psychotic and one that shouldn't be agitated.

"Well well well, looks like we have some spectators." Shadow Yon said. "Are you all here to see the next round?" The sound of a large crowd cheering amplified throughout the palace. It was strange as there were no other people in here except for Yon, his Shadow, and the Team.

"The Shadows are getting restless." Teddie said, slightly tense from the presence he could feel. "We need to hurry."

"Yon-kun, hang in there." Yukiko said. "We're here to help."

"Ha! Help? Why would you guys want to help me?" Shadow Yon scoffed. "Why would anyone even care about me?"

"Because we're your friends!" Rise shouted. "We all care about you because we're your friends!"

Yon's eyes widened upon hearing what Rise said. _Friends..._ He slowly looked back to them, eyes still wide with surprise. "Friends? You guys...you really...?"

"Don't listen to them!" Shadow Yon was now getting angry. In his anger, he stabbed the floor with the straight sword, cracking through the wood and splitting it. "Do you really believe a word they say? Why would anyone want to be friends with you? You couldn't make any friends back in Korea because of what you are, why would Japan be any different! Why would anywhere else be different!"

"Is... is this really how Yon-kun feels?" Chie asked.

"He's had no friends?" Yukiko asked. "All because of being different?"

"No matter where I've been, people have always judged me because of my blood." Shadow Yon ranted. He seemed to have ignored the fact that the Investigation Team was present. He had instead focused his attention to Yon, who was still kneeling on the floor. "Just because I wasn't a full Japanese or Korean, they all saw me differently. The look on their faces, I could tell that no matter how nice people tried to be, they always saw me as something strange. For the love of god, even school treats me like crap. All because of my blood! No matter where I go, no matter who I meet, they all see me as an abomination of humanity, A FREAK! AND BECAUSE OF THAT, I BEGAN TO HATE THEM ALL. I EVEN DESPISE MY OWN MOTHER FOR MAKING ME THIS WAY!"

"No, that's not true." Yon said. He tried to get up, but the weakness in him stopped him from moving. "Mom's always been there, she's the only one who cares for me."

"Why do you lie?" Shadow Yon asked. "Why did mom have to marry a Korean? Why did she have to be Japanese? Why couldn't I just be a whole? Why am I like this? Why don't people accept me?"

"People _do_ accept me." Yon said, he looked towards his Shadow self, glaring at him. He then pointed to the team. "_They_ accept me!"

"Oh, come on. Look at their faces now!" Shadow Yon pointed to the team. "Even now, while they claim to be friends, they look at us like we're freaks!"

"That's not true!" Chie said. "We don't see him like that at all."

"Oh shut up!" Shadow Yon yelled. "You guys think you're any better than me? You guys don't care." He then looked down at Yon. "I can never change who I am. I'll always be a freak of nature. Because I'm a crossblood, I'm neither Korean nor Japanese, I'm just two halves of nothing!"

"No, you don't know anything about me!" Yon shouted.

"Oh, but I do." Shadow Yon smirked. "I know everything, especially the things we wish to forget. Like our sister."

"Shut up." Yon said.

"You remember what happened, don't you?" Shadow Yon asked. "What do you say to that? 'Oh, it was just one fight. Siblings fight all the time.' But this one was different, wasn't it?"

"I said shut up." Yon forced himself to his feet, bracing his hand on his knee for support as he made his way up.

"This one fight ended badly. I could never take back what I said to her. After all, I…"

"I said, shut up!"

"I killed her. You killed her; you killed your own sister."

"What?" Everyone was shocked by the accusation Shadow Yon had made to his human counterpart.

"YOU LIE! How can you say shit like that?"

"How can I not?" Shadow Yon asked. He suddenly appeared to me very calm. "How can I avoid the truth? How can _you_ avoid the truth? After all, I _am_ you."

The Team then realized what was going to happen. It was like this with everyone else when it first happened, and Yon would be no exception. "Wait, don't say it Yon-kun!" Rise shouted.

"NO! YOU'RE NOT ME!"

Shadow Yon then began to laugh softly, which slowly escalated into an all-out hysterical cackle. "Oh, that feels good. That's right; let me feast on that despair. It makes me wanna KILL!" Shadow Yon was suddenly engulfed in a dark flame. As the flames flicked around him, his body began to change; his body was now protected by Samurai armor and a distinct line appeared in the direct middle of his body, going vertically downward. On the left half, his armor was red and on his right half, it was blue. His size increased, growing almost five times in size. A samurai _kabuto_(helmet) formed over his head, covering his face. "I am a Shadow, the true self. Now, I shall eliminate those who dare to oppose me!" With a motion of his hand, Shadow Yon summoned chains from the wall behind him. The chains shot out and grabbed Yon, binding him. With another motion of his hands, the chains pulled Yon to the wall.

"YON-KUN!" Yukiko shouted in horror as she saw Yon slam into the wall.

When Yon slammed to the wall, his aviator goggles came loose and fell to the floor, the lenses cracking on impact.

"This is it guys!" Yosuke said.

The team ran around the Shadow, surrounding him as they all drew out their weapons. "Don't get too close." Rise said.

"Go get him, Rokuten Maoh!" From Kanji's Persona card, the giant flame detailed hulk appeared with its giant blade. Ordering his Persona, Maoh slashed at Shadow Yon, but left no damage. "What?"

"Oh boy, that's one tough armor." Rise panicked.

"Izanagi-no-Okami!" Souji summoned his Persona. Izanagi-no-Okami struck Yon with the polearm on his chest, but the damage did very little to his armor.

"Is that the best you've got?" Shadow Yon laughed. He chopped at Izanagi-no-Okami with his large katana. The force was enough to get the Persona on all four. Shadow Yon then kicked Izanagi-no-Okami. "At least give me a challenge!"

"Rise, give us something!" Naoto shouted. "Anything!"

Rise scanned what she could, mainly judging by what she witnessed. "Physical attacks won't work on him. That armor is too thick." She tried to study Shadow Yon's data, but was coming up short. "I can't get anything else from him. Try using an element!"

"I got this." Yosuke said, spinning his kunai around his fingers. "Susano-O! Get him with a Garudyne!" Slashing at his card, Susano-O appeared with the giant razor ring spinning. A large gust of wind then shot out from Susano-O's hands and slammed at Shadow Yon. The Shadow reared back from the assault, but still maintained its composure. "That got him!"

"It wasn't enough. Hit him harder!" Teddie shouted.

Souji dodged an attack from Shadow Yon. "Dammit! Why won't you stay still?" Shadow Yon shouted in anger. "Take this!" Shadow Yon jumped up and dove at Naoto. Before he could get close enough to Naoto, Rokuten Maoh jumped in the way and Shadow Yon slashed at the powerhouse Persona's arm. Maoh then slammed a powerful hammerfist punch at Yon, knocking him down. "How do you like them apples?"

Shadow Yon quickly got back on his feet. "Is that it?" He threw a punch at Kanji, who managed to narrowly dodge it. While he managed to avoid the deadly strike of Shadow Yon's fist, the tumble he took to dodge it was a rather painful one. "Stay still and take it like a man!"

"Hang in there, Kanji! PERSONA!" Chie kicked at her Persona card with a reverse hook and her Persona appear, standing valiantly in her metallic armor with the twin bladed weapon. "Go get him, Suzuka Gongen!" Her Persona did as instructed and darted up towards Shadow Yon. Before Gongen could attempt a strike, Shadow Yon struck the Persona with a kick to the head.

"He just won't give in." Kanji shouted.

"Oh, I'm just getting warmed up." Shadow Yon cackled. "And I'm feeling pretty chill, too." Shadow Yon then raised his hands into the air. In his left hand, a small ember formed, which quickly grew to a large flame. His right hand began to release a bright blue light and began to emit a chilling smoke. "Try this on for size!" Shadow Yon threw the flame and ice at the Team, the ice soaring towards Yukiko and the fire blazing at Kanji.

Teddie ran to Yukiko and jumped in front of her. "Yukiko-san!" Teddie then summoned Kamui to shield the two from the ice blast. The element hit Kamui, but did nothing to harm the Persona.

The fire came charging at Kanji, who managed to jumped out of the way, but not completely. Some of the fire managed to catch on his shirt, singeing it. As Kanji fell on the ground, he noticed the fire from both the heat and the light it gave off. "Damn!" Kanji patted his shirt, putting the fire out. "This was my favorite shirt, you asshole!" Kanji got back on his feet. "Zap his ass!" He summoned Rokuten Maoh, who unleashed a giant bolt of lightning upon Shadow Yon.

However, Shadow Yon was prepared. "Ziodyne!" Shadow Yon covered himself with lightning, which deflected Kanji's own attack. "No matter what you throw, I'll always counter it."

"Garudyne!" Yosuke summoned Susano-O, who blasted Shadow Yon with a gust of wind.

The wind cut at Shadow Yon's left arm, cracking through the armor. Shadow Yon dropped to one knee and grabbed onto the damaged arm. "Damn it!"

"Hey, that worked." Rise said.

"He used lightning to stop Kanji, but Yosuke got him with wind." Teddie said.

"That must be the trick." Yukiko said. "When he uses one element, he's weak against another." Yukiko ran to Chie's side. "Let's attack him together."

"Got it." Chie nodded. "Go, Suzuka Gongen! Bufudyne!"

"Amaterasu, Agidyne!"

The two Personae unleashed their respective elemental attacks. Shadow Yon threw up his hands, creating ice and fire elements in each hand to counter it. "You think that's gonna stop me!" He threw his hands forward to counter the two opposing attacks. However, the fire element of his attack was soon overpowered by Chie's ice attack and his ice counter was overpowered by Yukiko's fire-based attack. Shadow Yon took a powerful blast of elemental damage and fell back from the hit.

"You guys need to do more than that." Rise said.

"We'll need to go all out." Souji said. "We all need to use an element at the same time."

"Sounds like a plan, Sensei." Teddie said. "Let's do it!"

Following Souji's plan, the Team initiated their attack. First, they forced Shadow Yon into the center of the throne room; they backed away from him in which Shadow Yon answered by moving towards them. They then moved to spread out, surrounding Shadow Yon.

"Now what do you plan on doing?" Shadow Yon's voice boomed through the palace. Shadow Yon brought his hands up; his left began to crackle with sparks of electricity while his right hand created a small cyclone.

"Yosuke, Kanji, now!" Souji ordered.

"Persona!" Yosuke and Kanji followed Souji's orders and attacked. Susano-O released a raging blast of wind towards Shadow Yon's left hand and Rokuten Maoh stabbed the sky, shooting a bolt of lighting to Shadow Yon's right hand. The elemental attack of each against their opposite element was enough to inflict pain to Yon's two hands, and even break through the armoring that protected him.

"Finish him off!" Rise shouted.

"Let's do this!" Souji commanded to his teammates. "Persona! Ziodyne!"

"Now, Suzuka Gongen!" Chie struck her Persona card with a spinning heel kick.

"Kamui!" Teddie slashed at his Persona card.

"Bufudyne!" The two ice wielding Persona users shouted.

"Hear me, Amaterasu!" Yukiko struck her card with her open fan. "Agidyne!"

"Come, Yamato Takeru!" Naoto shot at her card. "Megidolaon!"

Each Persona unleashed their most powerful attack upon Shadow Yon. With Shadow Yon damaged by the Yosuke and Kanji's previous duo attack, he was left vulnerable to this onslaught of elements. As he desperately attempted to defend himself with an element, it was easily countered by whatever element it was weak against. The full blast tore Shadow Yon's armor into pieces, leaving nothing but scraps of metal. The scraps then faded into nothingness, leaving behind only Shadow Yon, back to his normal size and in Yon's mimicking attire.

The chains that bound Yon to the wall then came loose, dropping Yon to the ground rather painfully.

"Yon-kun!" Rise ran over to his side to check on him. "Are you alright?" He was still breathing, which relieved Rise. That was all she needed to know. "Can you get up?"

Yon strained a bit. "I think so." He forced himself onto his feet. Well, more like struggled.

"We did it." Yosuke panted. "We got him."

"About damn time..." Kanji slumped over, leaning on his weapon for support.

Before the team could celebrate their victory, they suddenly heard Shadow Yon chuckling. When they turned their attention to him, Shadow Yon got back on his feet, getting up as if he wasn't injured to being with. "Hahaha, you really think you can stop me? I'm still feeding on my other self's despair. As long as he refuses to accept me as a part of him, I can't be gone!"

"Then why don't I get rid of you?"

"Huh?" Souji looked back and saw Yon limping his way to his Shadow. Still injured from before the battle, Rise helped him walk by letting him lean on her as a crutch. "Take it easy, you shouldn't strain yourself."

"Stop, don't bother." Yon raised a hand towards Souji as he told him to stop. "You guys did enough for me. You don't need to keep getting yourselves hurt at my expense." Yon then grabbed onto Rise's hands, getting himself off from her as a support. "Thanks, I'll take it from here." He continued to limp towards his Shadow as the others watched him slowly get closer. "You really have a way with words, you know that?" Shadow Yon was silent, not answering. "I guess what you said...it was true. I always felt that I had no friends because no one accepted me for being different. I felt like a freak, but I wanted to try and hide that, maybe if I ignored it long enough, I might forget that I'm different."

"Yon-kun..." Realizing that Yon was finally beginning to accept his darker side, Rise couldn't help but feel pity for the pain Yon had to endure.

"I guess deep down, I really _did_ hate my parents for making me this way." Yon said, looking down to the ground in shame. "You read me like a book. I guess there's no use denying it anymore. You really are me." Yon's Shadow then nodded. Having now accepted and faced his other self, Shadow Yon acknowledged Yon as the superior one. Shadow Yon then disappeared from a pool of light that surrounded him, leaving behind only a card that was floating in the air. "Huh?" Yon reached out and took the card. "What is this?"

"It's your Persona." Souji answered. "You have the power now."

Yon turned towards them. What seemed like a smile curling at the ends of Yon's lips as cut short when dropped to his knees and then fell face first to the ground.

"Hey!" Yosuke ran over to Yon, kneeling down beside him and gently turning him over.

"Is he alright?" Rise asked.

Yosuke looked at him carefully, and noticed that his chest was still moving with each breath. "He's fine, he just passed out."

"Let's get him outta here." Kanji said. He went to Yon's other side and with Yosuke, the two lifted Yon, putting his arms around their shoulders. "Teddie, work your magic."

"Roger that." Teddie released his spell, sending the team out of the dungeon and back to the stage area.

Quickly, they went through the TV, leaving the world and going back to the lounge room in Junes. Kanji and Yosuke gently put Yon on the large sofa, resting his head on the soft arm rest at the end. He was alive to say the least, but he looked in pain.

"So, what do we do with him now?" Yosuke asked. "We can't leave him here."

"I'll talk to my uncle." Souji said. "We can work something out."

"We'll need to do it fast, he needs to go to a hospital fast." Chie said, looking at Yon with concern.

* * *

**At long last, another chapter has been complete.**

**I'm hoping that you all still enjoy reading this. I've put a lot of effort into these chapters for the entertainment of my readers.**

**The next chapter will be up as soon as I have it ready. Until that time, please leave me a review.  
**


	8. Welcome Aboard

**Alright, Yon's saved so now let's move on to next course. We'll bring out Yon's more tolerable side, and progress through non-Midnight Channel related events.**

**Here we go, enjoy.**

* * *

**Saturday - September 15 2012**

**Forecast: Raining**

[Yasogami High School]

(Afternoon)

Souji managed to speak with Ryotaro Dojima and discuss the situation with him regarding Yon. Considering how much he knew of the TV world due to Adachi's explanation as well as Souji's, he had no reason to dismiss Souji's story as a lie. He promised Souji that after Yon recovers in the hospital, he'll be sure to discuss the situation.

With that out of the way, the Team was able to resume their days back in the real world. Until Yon regained consciousness, they couldn't really do anything.

"Hanamura."

"Huh?" Yosuke's head shot up from his desk when he heard his name called out by the teacher.

"You better not be sleeping in my class." The teacher said with a demanding look upon Yosuke.

"Not at all." Yosuke said in a desperate attempt to sound honest.

"Really? Then answer me this." The teacher turned to the blackboard and pointed to the symbol that was drawn on it, the yin and yang symbol. "Soft, cold, passive, and femininity; which one represents all those, yin or yang?"

"Uh...yang?"

Chie palmed her face upon hearing Yosuke's answer, giving him the hint that he was wrong.

"Are you sure, Hanamura?" The teacher asked.

"It's the black one, right?" Yosuke asked, trying to clear up his answer.

"You mean yin?" The teacher pointed to the black half of the symbol.

"Yeah."

"Well, I suppose that was just a lucky guess." The teacher said. "Let's move on."

"Oh man, I thought I was gonna die." Yosuke slumped on his chair. "I really gotta stop staying up late all night."

Souji looked out the window; the rain was pouring heavily and the sky enveloped by heavy gray clouds. The forecast called for a heavy fog starting early in the evening, he would have to check the TV at midnight.

"Seta." Souji's attention snapped back to the teacher when he heard his name being called. "Can you tell me the name of this diagram?" She pointed to the symbol on the board.

"The diagram is called the Taijitu." Souji answered.

"Very good. At least someone has confidence in his answer." The teacher briefly glanced at Yosuke, causing him to sink his head down.

* * *

[Dojima Residence]

(Evening)

Souji looked out his window, seeing the fog descend over the city. The fog was the same as he last remembered it; a sickly yellow fog that only looked normal because of the lack of sunlight. It was only a few seconds before midnight, he needed to turn his attention to the TV. At the stroke of midnight, the TV began to reveal the Midnight Channel; the fuzz on the screen and the sound of brief feedback. Souji was relieved when he didn't see Yon on the TV.

"Another good deed done." Souji smiled. To his surprise, the TV didn't turn off, there was still more. A figure appeared suddenly on the TV; it wasn't Yon, but it wasn't clear who it was. Souji looked closely at the TV and recognized the figure to be that of a woman.

"..."

Souji couldn't make out what the person was saying.

"Cease your meddling."

The TV then turned off, leaving Souji with nothing more than a mystery. No doubt that Team watched the Midnight Channel as well, he can discuss this with them tomorrow.

* * *

**Sunday - September 16 2012**

**Forecast: Cloudy**

[Dojima Residence]

(Morning)

Souji woke up rather late in the morning, not a common thing for him. But then again, it was Sunday, he had the day to himself and not to school. While he got himself off his futon and prepping himself for the day, his cell rang. Souji reached for it and looked at the caller ID; Yukiko.

"Souji-kun, we're meeting at Junes." Yukiko said when he answered the call. "We need to discuss things."

"I thought so." Souji answered. "When are we meeting?"

"Yosuke has his break at 1, so we'll be meeting then."

"Alright, I'll see you."

* * *

(Afternoon)

The Team gathered at their usual place in the food court.

"I'm guessing you all saw what was on TV last night?" Yosuke asked.

"Yeah, you was she?" Kanji asked. "And what did she mean by 'cease your meddling'?"

"You think she knows about what we do in the Midnight Channel?" Chie asked.

"Maybe she's connected with Yon-kun." Rise said. "Maybe she was the one who threw him into the TV."

It was possible. The Team considered it carefully; the fact that this woman appeared on the Midnight Channel after Yon was saved was different than the events that happened before.

"Even so, we don't have enough proof on that." Souji said. "We'll have to wait until Yon's out of the hospital and ready to talk."

"Until then, why don't just relax a bit?" Kanji said. "As long as no one else shows up on TV, we've got nothing to worry about."

They agreed in unison. It was true; Yon's been the most recent victim and until another one shows up, they had nothing to worry about.

"Which reminds me." Kanji got up from his chair. "Naoto and I have plans to hit up Okina City. I gotta buy a new favorite shirt."

"Fair enough." Chie said. "I'm gonna head home and get some homework done."

They all got up from their seats to go about on their own business. Kanji and Naoto left together, making their way to the bus stop that will take them to Okina. Souji and Yukiko went off on their own way without disclosing their business. While Teddie went back inside to carry on his work as the store mascot and Rise heading back to the tofu shop, Yosuke and Chie were left to head out.

"You think Yon-kun might have any useful information?" Chie asked.

"I don't know." Yosuke replied. "I mean; after we saved Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, and Naoto, they didn't really have much to say to help us on their own. I get the feeling Yon's info is gonna be just as black and white."

"Meh, I guess you might be right." Chie sighed. They two found themselves now at the doors of the Junes store exit. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, seeya." Yosuke smiled. He watched as Chie went out the door after waving good-bye. Yosuke fidgeted with his fingers for a while, until he finally stepped forward. He went out the doors of Junes and chased after Chie. "Chie!"

Chie stopped and turned around when she heard her named being called. "Yosuke, what are you doing?"

"Uh..." Yosuke didn't really think this part through. "Um...I...well..." Yosuke scratched his head, hoping that it might spark up some of his brain cells into acting. And it seemed to work a bit. "Do you...wanna go out tonight?"

"Wh-what?"

"Uh...sorry, I..." Yosuke tried to get his words out in proper order. "Um..."

Chie tilted her head to the side with a look of question. "Did you just ask me out?"

"Uh...yeah, but if you don't want to..."

"Sure." Chie said almost instantly. "Yeah, let's go out. Um, how about we go to Aiya?"

"Um..." Yosuke was rather surprised that she agreed to easily. Nevertheless, Yosuke was happy. "Yeah, sure. I get off work at 7:30, how 'bout I meet you there at 8?"

"Ok." Chie smiled. "I'll...see you then."

"Great." Yosuke smiled. He watched as Chie happily walked off to head home, leaving him to head back inside and finish his work until his shift ended.

* * *

Souji and Yukiko decided to spend the day with each other. Having been away from each other for the entire summer, they wanted to make up for that lost time. They spent the day together at the park, enjoying the sun and the quiet atmosphere.

"I missed this." Yukiko said, holding Souji's hand as they walked through the park.

"I did too." Souji smiled. "But now we can do this more often."

Yukiko smiled back, but then dropped her expression. "I hope we can."

Souji stopped walking when he sensed something off in Yukiko's voice. "Are you alright?"

"I'm worried." She answered him. "What if it all happens again? What if the fog covers the city? What if the Shadows from the other world come to our's?"

"We won't let that happen." Souji said reassuringly. "We have the power to stop this from happening. We did it before, we can do it again."

"I hope you're right, Souji-kun."

"And maybe Yon can help us in getting closer to finding the culprit." Souji said. "We can at least look forward to that."

* * *

**Monday - September 17 2012**

**Forecast: Sunny. Rain later tonight  
**

[Yasogami High School]

(Lunchtime)

The Team gathered up on the roof to enjoy the sun while having lunch. While they were engaging in conversation with one another, someone approached them.

"Uh...hello." Yon said.

His presence came as a big shock to them; considering how he was left at the hospital and how soon he until then he was out and about. They didn't expect him to be out and back in school so soon.

"Yon-kun." Rise was surprised to see him so soon after rescuing him, but regardless of that she put on a bright smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing alright, I guess." Yon answered with a shoulder shrug.

Kanji didn't pay much attention to Yon, apparently still holding a grudge for previous altercations. Yon sensed the tension, but paid no attention to it.

"That's good to hear." Yosuke said. He paused briefly. "Listen, I know you just recovered, but we need to ask you some questions."

"Yosuke, take it easy with him." Chie said. "I don't think he's in any mood to talk about it."

"No no, it's alright." Yon said. "I want to help."

"See?" Yosuke smirked at Chie. "Alright, first question; what do you remember?"

"Well, I remember being saved by you guys." Yon answered. "Before that; I only remember waking up and finding myself in that weird place and looking at my other self."

"What about before all that?" Yukiko asked. "Do you remember how you got there?"

"No."

"What do you remember before ending up in the TV?" Souji asked. "Don't hold back on us, every bit of information helps."

Yon scratched his head, trying to remember what happened on that day. "I woke up in the morning, got dressed for school, and said bye to my mom before heading out." He then remembered what he had planned to do on that day. "I was supposed to meet Rise-chan. She wanted to talk to me about things. But before I made it to school..." Thinking back to that moment, he then remembered how it all went strange. "I remember being hit in the head by something. Next thing I knew, I was in the TV."

"What about the police, did you tell them about the TV world?" Chie asked.

"No, I didn't think they would believe me anyways." Yon said. "I figured a plausible lie was better. So I told them was trying to run away and find my way back to Korea. They thought I was stupid for trying, but at least they bought it." The Team was still stumped with their investigation. If Yon didn't know who the supposed killer was, it wasn't going to help. "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

The school bell then rang, signalling the end of lunch. "Maybe it can wait until after school." Souji said. "Yon, stay with Kanji, Rise-chan, and Naoto-chan. They'll take you to meet us at Junes."

"What's at Junes?" Yon asked.

"Just wait and see." Chie smiled. "We'll see you there."

The Team disbanded and went back to class.

* * *

[Junes]

(After School)

Yon listened well to Souji and stuck with the three until they brought him to the Junes food court. They Teddie took the time to leave the TV and meet with them as well. The Team discussed the situation to Yon, explaining about the Midnight Channel, Adachi, Nametame, the killings, and everything they had gone through.

"And I was the recent target?" Yon asked.

"Yes, but we don't know who the culprit is or why anyone is trying this." Yukiko said.

"I'm sure Sensei can pull through and find the bad guy." Teddie said. Yon was still finding it hard to adjust to the fact that the young looking boy named Teddie was actually in a strangely colored bear suit in the TV world.

"So, you're the Team leader?" Yon asked, looking at Souji. "Then I guess that makes you the _Seonbae _(elder)."

"Huh?" Souji was taken aback, not sure what he was saying.

"Oh, sorry." Yon awkwardly smiled. "It's Korean. I guess you could say it's the Korean version of 'sempai'."

The group laughed in amusement of Yon's comment. Yon smiled in satisfaction; he was finally making friends here. He finally found a place where he could be accepted. The laughing was interrupted by the loud sound of grumbling. Their attention was turned to Teddie, who had blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry, I guess I'm hungry." Teddie said while rubbing his stomach.

"Let's go get something to eat then." Yosuke said. He got up from his chair. "Let's treat Yon for today."

"Huh? What for?" Yon asked.

"It's your 'Welcome to the Team' ceremony." Yosuke answered. "Come on guys, let's pick something out."

Everybody got up to head to the food stands, leaving Yon and Rise behind. "You want something Rise-chan?" Chie asked.

"Anything spicy works for me." Rise said. While waiting for the others to be back, Rise thought that maybe she should strike a conversation with Yon. The silence wasn't doing any good for either of them. "How are you feeling now? Considering what happened to you, are you feeling ok?"

"Yeah, I'm doing fine." Yon answered. "The doctors said my injuries should've kept me in the hospital for a few weeks, but they let me go this morning."

"This morning? That's pretty quick." Rise noted. "You must be a fast healer."

"I guess I am." Even Yon found it surprising that he was already out of the hospital. "Guess that makes me superhuman."

Rise laughed; this was nice, being able to talk with Yon and seeing the non-violent side. But then her mind went back to when the Team was investigating Yon's disappearance. She remembered that one photo that was in his room. "Listen Yon-kun; when we were out trying to find you, I talked to your mom. I also learned about your sister."

Yon's smile dropped. "Oh..."

"I'm sorry to hear about her." Rise said. "Your mom told me about how close you two were and how you looked up to her."

"She did? Well, she's right. We were really close." Yon said.

Rise then remembered back to what Yon's Shadow had said before he changed into his monstrous form. "Yon-kun, I just want to make sure about something. What your Shadow said, was it true? Did you…"

"No." Yon answered immediately. "No, I didn't kill her. But…" Yon's face dropped, thinking about his sister brought back some past memories he never liked. "Maybe if I did some things differently, maybe I could've saved her."

The others arrived shortly after with food.

"Here we go." Yosuke said. "Eat up Yon, you're gonna need it for later."

"What's happening later?" Yon asked.

"We're gonna take you into the Midnight Channel." Souji said. "You should get a feel for how we do things in there."

"But we first have to stop by Daidara's." Chie said. "Yon can't go in the TV without a weapon to fight with."

"Chie's right, I don't think Yon can take the Shadows on with just his fists." Yosuke said. "But first; we eat."

* * *

[Daidara Metalworks]

After finishing with their meal, the Team took Yon to the Shopping District to get him a weapon from Daidara Metalworks.

"Hey, you're all back!" Master Daidara spoke in a booming voice. "Can I interest you in my newest products?"

"Actually, I wouldn't mind checking it out." Yosuke said.

"Hey, I want to see too." Chie said.

"So do I." Kanji said.

While tose three followed Master Daidara to a portion of the shop that had his newest items, Souji, Yukiko, Rise, Naoto, Teddie, and Yon looked around the place for a suitable weapon for Yon.

"I think maybe we should get him something that no one else uses." Rise said. "It makes us all look inidividual."

"Alright, well... swords, daggers, and guns are covered." Souji said while counting with his fingers. "Chie uses weapons for the legs, Kanji uses a shield, and Teddie uses claws."

"I use a fan." Yukiko said. "Hmm, that doesn't leave much of an option for Yon."

"How about a staff?" Yon spoke up. "Who uses that?"

"Uh...nobody." Souji said. "That could work, let's get you a staff then."

With a set goal in mind, they looked around the shop for a suitable and cheap staff for Yon to use. Many of them seemed to be quite pricey, and Rise suggested that a wooden one was too risky for Yon to use.

"Hey, how about this?" Rise showed them a spear with a metal shaft.

Yon took hold of it and looked at it. "It's got a pretty good feel." Yon then noticed a small switch close to the spearhead. "What's this do?" He flipped the small switch and instantly, the spearhead shot out and pierced the ceiling, connected to the sshaft by a chain that was hidden inside. They all looked up to where the spear struck and then looked over to where Master Daidara was standing. He was still occupied with showing off some items to the others so he didn't notice. Yon quietly put the spear back, leaving the head stuck on the ceiling. "Ok, next."

After spending some more time in the shop, Yon finally found the perfect staff; a metal shaft with black wrapping around the middle section. One end of the staff was slightly tipped to give a bit of a bite while the other end of the staff was slightly clubbed, making that end heavier. For a price of 7,000 yen, Yon was fairly happy. With Yon's weapon now in hand, they were ready to head into the TV.

* * *

[TV World]

"Guys?" Yon called out. "Where are you?" Yon's vision was completely blinded by the thick yellow fog of the world. The others were standing right there with him, but the thickness of the fog made them invisible to Yon's eyes.

"Ow! What the hell?" Kanji yelled when he felt Yon step on his foot.

"Ah!" Chie slapped Yon's hand away when she felt it on her left breast.

"Sorry." Yon said. "I can't see shit."

"Hey, watch it. Ahh!" Yon knocked into Rise and the two fell to the ground with Rise landing on top of him. Rise got off of Yon and helped him get on his feet.

All this time, the others were able to see what Yon was doing as the fog did nothing to their vision since they were wearing the special glasses made by Teddie.

"I guess we forgot to consider making Yon's glasses." Souji said.

"Say no more, Sensei. I never forgot." Teddie presented Yon's pair of special glasses. "Here you go."

Yon reached out cautiously, making sure he was reaching out to Teddie's hand and not something or someone else. When he got hold of what Teddie was holding he pulled it towards himself and looked at it. "Hey, my goggles."

"I took them after we saved you. When I saw they were broken, I decided to use them." Teddie said.

Yon strapped the aviator goggles to his head and put the lense over his eyes. Instantly, the fog cleared and Yon could see everything in perfect vision. "Whoa. This is awesome."

"Alright, now that Yon's ready, let's move." Yosuke said.

"Where to?" Naoto asked.

"We're going back to the Palace." Souji said. "There's some things we need to clean up there."

* * *

**And we're done. Yon's finally an official member of the Investigation Team.**

**Regarding Yon's weapon; I was debating between staff or whip. In all honesty, the final decision came down to a coin flip (best two out of three). Yon's weapon arsenal will vary between staffs and spears.**

**Keep an eye out for the next update.**


	9. Make the Change

**What's up folks?**

**It's time to get a new chapter up and running. Let's get back into the action and introduce you guys to Yon's Persona as well as his Arcana (though I think many of you know what it is). If not, you'll find out soon enough.**

* * *

"YAAAHH!" Yon slammed his staff down onto the Shadow destroying it in one strike. "Oh yeah! Take some of that!"

Yon's addition to the roster made some contributions for the Team and making each fight go by quicker. Floor by floor, they went up; clearing each of all Shadows down to the final corner.

They arrived to the halfway point, where they had previously faced the Palace Guard. Fortunately, the Palace Guard wasn't there this time. Not even a single Shadow was present. This gave them a moment to take a quick break and gather their strength to continue through the next half of the palace. The break was a wise decision as the next half of the palace proved to be more of a challenge. Despite this, they pushed through until they finally made it back to the top.

"That did it." Souji said. "I guess we're done here."

"About damn time." Kanji said as he stretched his back.

"Whoo." Chie fell on her rear to sit on the ground. "I say we go get some food. Anybody in the mood for Aiya?"

"I like the sound of that." Yosuke said.

"I'm in." Yon answered.

"Well then, let's get out of here." Souji said. "Teddie?"

"Roger that." Casting Traesto, Teddie brought the entire Team outside the palace gates.

"If I remember correctly, it's raining now back in Inaba." Chie said. "Who's down for trying the Meat Dimension Portal?"

"The what?" Yon asked.

"You'll see when we get there." Chie smiled.

They walked until they reached the gateway that would take them out of the palace ground. Kanji and Yon both pulled on one of the double doors and opened it. As the doors opened, something else was blocking their way out. What made them defensive was when this thing moved and turned to face them.

"What the hell, it's still alive?" Kanji shouted.

Standing before them all was the Palace Guard, the same Shadow that they defeated earlier the last time they were in the Palace. However, the Palace Guard looked very different from last time. The armor it wore was heavily damaged, showing bones hidden within the armoring.

"You are not welcome here." The Palace Guard spoke, but it's voice was different; almost as if it was on the brink of death, but fighting it back. It's appearance almost matched it's voice. It was as if the Palace Guard was resurrected as a zombie.

"It makes no difference." Souji said. "We'll take it out the same way as last time."

"Persona!" The Team summoned their respective Personae and attacked the Palace Guard in unison.

"Alright, let's see how mine can fight. Persona!" Yon shouted. As he raised his hand up to summon his Persona card, nothing happened. "What?" Yon brought his hand back up, but the card didn't appear. "Persona!" By this point, Yon had started to swing his hand all over the place as if he was swatting a fly. "Persona! Persona, Persona, Persona!"

The Palace Guard took notice of Yon's vulnerability and moved in to attack.

"Yon!" Souji charged at Yon and tackled him down and out of the way of the Palace Guard's sword slash.

"Don't ignore us!" Yosuke shouted. "Get him, Susano-O!"

Souji got to his feet, picking up his katana. "Are you alright?" Souji asked. Yon simply stayed sitting on the ground, staring down. While the others were still taking care of the Palace Guard, Souji ran over to Yon. "Yon, what happened?"

Yon said nothing for a while. "Why? Why did nothing happen?" He looked up and saw the Palace Guard was still rampaging against the Team.

"_Sempai_!" Kanji shouted. "We could use some help here!"

"Come on, get up." Souji grabbed Yon by his arm and lifted him on his feet. "We gotta get rid of this thing."

Yon didn't move; even when Souji went and joined in the battle, he didn't move. The fact that he had no way of summoning his Persona made him freeze, he was scared.

"Hey, come on!" Yosuke shouted. "Do something!"

Yon snapped out of his state of shock when he heard Yosuke. He did what he said; he did something. Yon turned around and ran. He didn't stop to look back, he just ran.

"Hey, get back here!" Teddie shouted.

"You pussy!" Kanji shouted.

* * *

Yon kept running, not stopping even when the sound of the others in battle drained out from the distance.

When Yon took a quick second to blink, he suddenly found himself sitting inside a limousine, a rather large and luxurious limousine. "What? Where am I?" When Yon's vision began to clear, he suddenly found that he wasn't alone. Sitting opposite of him was a rather short man with an oddly long nose, white hair that wasn't sprouting from the top of his head but rather around it. He wore a black suit with a white handkerchief resting snugly in his coat pocket and his black bow tie undone. Sitting next to him was a taller blond woman in a blue coat. Her hair was kept back by a hair band of the same color as her coat and on her lap was a book. The book was rather thick and the cover was filled with strange arcane writings. With his vision now clear, he could see the details of the book.

"Greetings." The man spoke. "So, you've finally decided to join us."

"Huh?" Yon was clueless as to how he even ended up in here.

"Don't be alarmed, you are among friends." The man said. "Right now you are in the Velvet Room; a place that lies between your consciousness and subconsciousness. But where are my manners, my name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. Now..." Igor proceeded to take out a deck of cards and spread them around the table in front of him. "Do you believe in fortune telling?" He arranged the cards in a specific pattern on the table. "Each reading is done with the same card, but the result is always different." Igor flipped several cards over, looking at them closely. "Hmm... It seems that you've encountered an obstacle in your path, which is to explain why you've come to me. But in time, you will overcome this crisis and bring out a great power hidden within. But it seems you already have the power."

_I know that._ Yon thought to himself, but that wasn't the issue he was dealing with. "I just don't understand." Yon said. "Why am I not able to use my Persona?"

Igor looked down at the cards, flipping more over. "From what I see, you may have faced your dark self, but there is still part of you that doubts it." Igor then piled the cards together and with a wave of his hand, the cards disappeared. "You still feel that the Shadow of yourself is still not you. It's quite a mystery; such a dilemma would cause the Shadow to be stronger, but you...you are torn between accepting it as well as rejecting it."

Yon looked down on the floor. He had to admit, there was still a cloud of doubt about all this. Was his Shadow truly saying everything he felt, or was there some lie to it?

"Now then, let's take a look at your power." Igor snapped his finger. A card suddenly appeared in front of Yon, glowing just like it would when he summoned his Persona. Well, at least attempted to summon. The card then floated over to Igor, who grasped it between his index finger and thumb. Once he made contact with the card, it took on a solid form. "Interesting. Very interesting."

"What is?" Yon asked. "What's interesting about my Persona?"

Igor looked to Yon, looking at him with his large eyes. "You carry a very rare power. Something I never thought I would ever see in someone. Your Persona doesn't fall under any category of the Arcanas."

Yon was now getting more and more confused about this whole thing. Persona, Shadows, Arcana? What did this all mean?

"Perhaps I should take this time to introduce my assistant." Igor raised a hand towards the woman sitting next to him. "Margaret?"

Margaret gave a small, but pleasant bow to Yon. "The Arcana are the categories in which a Persona belongs to. They follow the categories of the tarot cards; The Fool, Magician, Priestess, Empress, Emperor, Hierophant, Lovers, Chariot, Justice, Hermit, Fortune, Strength, Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, Devil, Tower, Star, Moon, Sun, Judgment, and World." Yon didn't exactly memorize them all, but some stood out, mainly because some of them were the mentioned by the others with Persona. "There are only 22 Arcana that exist, but your Persona doesn't seem to be any of them. Almost like a 23rd Arcana."

"**The Aeon Arcana**." Igor looked at the card once more. "This Persona is unique in its power; two halves joined to form one. Like a sword and a shield; one fights, and the other protects. But regardless of its potential, it is useless without a strong heart to carry it."

_A strong heart?_ Yon pondered that for a brief second. "But what can I do?" Yon asked. "If I still have doubt, what's left for me to try?"

Igor smiled. "Take a chance. Give yourself the opportunity to go beyond your norm." Igor released his grip on the card and it floated back to Yon, disappearing in his chest. "Perhaps you may have a new view of things when you finally relinquish the doubt in your heart." The limousine then came to a gradual stop. "Ah, this is your stop."

"Huh?" Yon looked out the window. All he saw was fog.

"I regret to say that this will be our first and final meeting." Igor said. "But let us part with a word of advice; a Persona seeks change. If you have the power to do so, then perhaps the world should change to meet your desire."

Igor and Margaret slowly disappeared from view when a bright light filled the room, blinding Yon. He shielding his eyes with his arms and shut his eyes. When he opened them, he was now back out in the open, no longer inside the limousine.

"Take this!"

Yon turned to sound of the shout. It was faint, far away, but he recognized that voice as Kanji's.

_If you have the power to do so, then perhaps the world should change to meet your desire._

"Get it!"

"Persona!"

"Look out!"

Filled with determination, Yon ran towards them.

* * *

"Get it!" Rise shouted to the Team.

"Persona!" Kanji summoned Rokuten-Maoh. The Persona charged at the Palace Guard with a vicious tackle, but it did little to help them.

The Palace Guard kicked Rokuten-Maoh, sending him flying towards Kanji.

"Look out!" Yosuke pushed Kanji out of the way in time avoid being slammed by the weight of the fallen Persona.

"Thanks for that." Kanji said as he got back on his feet.

"Damn, this guy's tougher than last time." Yosuke commented.

"You are not welcome here." The raspy voice of the Palace Guard boomed. "Leave now or suffer your demise."

"_Ya, ipp dakcho_(Hey, shut up)!"

"Huh?" The Team looked towards where that came from.

From the distance, Yon walked towards the fight, grasping his staff in his right hand. He wore a look of strong determination, something that he didn't have before.

"Yon-kun! You're back." Yukiko called out.

"I've done nothing but doubt myself, made myself believe the world I live in wasn't meant for me." Yon raised his staff, holding it over his shoulder. "But now, if I feel the world doesn't accept me, then I'll change it so that it does!" Yon raised his left hand, bringing out his Persona card. "It's time I bring out my power, the power of the Aeon Arcana! PERSONA!"

Yon stuck the card with his staff, shattering it. Yon's Persona then appeared before him. However, instead of one Persona hovering before him, there were two. One appeared female, dressed in a black kimono with various white accents such as a white sash and small streaks of white throughout her kimono sleeves that resembled a graceful breeze. Her long black hair drifted in the wind, but didn't hide her face, although she had no face to show. A mask was put over the face; a white mask with two curved slits for eyes. In her hands, she held a traditional Japanese umbrella that had the black and white yinyang symbol. The second figure was a fit man by appearance with a similar style to the female one. He wore a white kimono with a black sash and traces of what appeared to be black flames all throughout his kimono. He had two swords strapped to the left side of his sash; a full length katana and a shorter length wakizashi. Like his female counterpart, he wore a white mask with two curved black slits for eyes, but on his head, he wore a straw hat that practically hid the mask from sight.

"T-t-two?" Teddie spoke in utter shock. "I've never seen that before."

"Whoa." Kanji was left with his jaw dropped.

"How does he have two?" Yosuke asked.

"Awesome." Chie said.

"Alright, he did it!" Rise cheered.

"He's summoned his Persona." Yukiko said.

"And in perfect timing." Naoto said.

"Two Personae, that doesn't make sense." Souji said.

"Don't think of it as two Personae." Yon said. "It's still just one. Combining the passiveness of a shield with the aggressive nature of a sword, I have two entities fighting as one warrior." Yon aimed his staff to the female figure. "The darkness of night with the moon hidden in the clouds." He then pointed his staff to the male counterpart. "The light of day with the sun shining down. The first ever two-in-one Persona." Yon struck the ground with the bottom end of his staff and pointed a finger at the Palace Guard. "Yin and Yang!"

"Yin and Yang? Like the symbol for Tao?" Yukiko asked.

"Accept no substitute. Now, get him!" Yon commanded. "Show him what we're made of!"

Yin and Yang charged at the Palace Guard, leaving a large gust of wind in their trail. The Palace Guard lunged forward with a downward slash. As the blade came down, Yin threw up her umbrella. The blade made contact with it, but instead of breaking, the umbrella deflected the attack like a shield. Yang then went right over Yin, landing behind the Palace Guard. As he spun around to face the Palace Guard, Yang drew out his katana and slashed three times before sheathing it.

The Palace Guard attempted to attack with a swinging slash at Yang, but Yin intervened; she moved in between the two with her umbrella out blocking the strike. Before the Palace Guard delivered another strike, Yin pushed forward with the shield. She then dropped to her knees as Yang slashed at the large Shadow. The Palace Guard staggered and fell down, landing roughly on it's back.

"Alright!" Yosuke shouted

"You go Yon-kun!" Chie cheered.

"Bear-fection!" Teddie shouted as he jumped in cheering.

Yon smiled in acknowledgement. "Let's finish this, double time!"

Yin and Yang stood on opposite ends of the Palace Guard. Yin raised her umbrella and begun to spin it around, summoning the power of wind. Yang raised his katana to the roof and as if a higher power answered his call, a bolt of lightning struck down and charged the katana. In unison, Yin threw the cyclone down upon the Palace Guard and Yang slashed downward with the lightning charged blade. The two opposing elements combined and began to tear up the Palace Guard, until nothing was left but broken pieces of it's armor and it's katana.

"Alright! You did it!" Teddie shouted.

"Way to go Yon-kun!" Rise cheered.

As the Team ran to congratulate Yon, Rise embraced him in a hug. Yon simply stood there wide-eyed at this. Rise then noticed the awkward tension that she had just created and released her grip on him. "Sorry."

"Um...that's ok...I guess." Yon replied in a rather confused way.

"So? We're done here, let's go eat." Chie announced.

* * *

[Chinese Diner Aiya]

(Evening)

With it raining in the quiet town, Aiya was serving their rainy day special. The Team sat at two tables; Souji, Yukiko, Naoto, and Kanji in one and Yosuke, Chie, Rise, and Teddie in the other. With no other space, Yon took the table right by the kitchen. They all took a moment to look at the monstrous portions they each received. Piles of meat towered past the bowl's height, as if the enormous size of the bowl wasn't big enough. A fried egg sat on top of each bowl bubbling from the hot grease of the meat pile.

"Oh man, no matter how many times I see it, it still amazes me." Yosuke said.

"Is a serving like this even legal?" Yon asked, looking at his bowl in different angles."Where do you even start?"

"I think I might have what it takes to beat the challenge this time." Chie said.

"Let's do this together." Souji said out loud.

Each of them grabbed their chopsticks in both their hands. "Itadakimasu."

Ten minutes in, they had finally eaten the pile of meat and were now at the bowl's brim level. Despite the little accomplishment, they were beginning to feel the weight in their stomachs.

"Oh..." Yosuke groaned. "That was tough enough, but I still don't see the rice."

"I'm beginning to think there is no rice." Yukiko muttered.

"I kinda wish this was more spicy." Rise complained.

"Yeah, I doubt you'll eat it any faster." Kanji said.

"This is just ridiculous." Naoto said. "How do they expect us women to finish this?"

Twenty minutes had now gone by since they started and progress was getting even slower. Despite eating as much meat as possible, there was just no sign of rice underneath it all. By this point Rise had given up and had actually fallen asleep on her chair. Naoto simply refused to carry on and had given up.

"Still no rice." Yukiko said.

"Seriously, what's with this monster?" Kanji asked.

"Man, I really don't think we'll finish it." Yosuke said.

Chie pointed her chopsticks at Yosuke. "You're giving up? I'm still pumped up!"

Yosuke looked at her in shock. "What? No way I'm gonna lose to a girl!"

While those two tried to wolf down their meals, Souji, Yukiko, Kanji, Teddie, and Yon continued at their normal pace.

Forty minutes in every had finally given up. Surprisingly, their bowls were still hot, but the contents of the bowls didn't seem too different from when they received it.

"The serving's way too big." Yosuke groaned. "As always."

"But I think we made a dent in it at least." Yukiko said with a smile. "More so than any time before."

"Maybe, but I can't say the same for Rise-chan." Yosuke said. "Poor thing got killed by the meat."

"Hey, shut up!" Rise smacked him on the head with a spoon, apparently now awake after her ordeal with the meal.

"How are you doing Yon-kun?" Yukiko asked.

Silence.

They all turned their attention to Yon. Yon had his back turned to them the entire time as if he was ignoring them.

"You know, he hasn't said a word since we started eating." Chie said.

"Is something wrong Yon?" Souji asked.

Yon still remained silent. However, he put down his chopsticks and pushed his bowl to the side. With space in front of him, Yon fell forward, slamming his face on the table.

"Yon-kun!" Rise got up to check on him, as did the others. However, their attention immediately shifted from Yon to his bowl.

"It...can't be..." Souji stared in shock.

They all looked into his bowl and saw the most amazing thing. Nothing.

"He actually did it." Chie said. "Yon-kun finished it."

They looked back to Yon. He was still breathing, but he was completely knocked out from the challenge.

"Dude, you alright?" Yosuke asked, putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking him slightly. All he got out of Yon was mumbling. "Yon, come on man. We can't leave you here."

"He'll be fine." The owner said. "He took his time with it, just give him a minute. I need his picture to add to our wall."

"Wall?" Chie asked.

"Right there." The owner pointed to the portion of wall above the entrance. There was only one portrait up there. "We only had one person finish the challenge. But he ate too quickly and ended up in the hospital to get his stomach pumped."

"Oh, come on!" Kanji shouted. "I don't need to picture that in my head."

* * *

**Complete!**

**Now with that done, all that's left is for you all to wait for the next update. Until then, leave me a review.**


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